“The Artist” is a love story about a man losing his world and a woman building hers. It is also a technical stunt, made entirely without speech, that works because the actors know exactly what they are doing. Jean Dujardin plays George Valentin, a silent screen star whose fame is built on charm and wit, and Bérénice Bejo plays Peppy Miller, a dancer who catches his eye and his career. Together they carry a decade of Hollywood history across 100 minutes, and they never once speak a word.
Trailer, via Roadshow Entertainment.
The Silent Frame
Hazanavicius builds the film around the arrival of talking pictures, and the stakes feel real. Valentin is dismissive of sound at first, insisting it is a passing fad. That refusal costs him everything. The film’s central trick is simple: it pretends to be a silent picture from 1927, and it mostly succeeds. Music swells, faces register, and the audience understands without a line of dialogue. It is a trick, but it is a generous one. The film trusts the audience to read a smile or a shrug, and it rarely asks for more.
Peppy’s Rise
Peppy is the engine of the story. She auditions, she dances, she gets noticed, and she climbs fast. Valentin notices her early and pushes her forward, even when the studio boss objects. Her rise is the flip side of Valentin’s fall. She is the future, and he is the past, and the film watches both trajectories with equal care. Bejo plays Peppy with warmth and ambition, and she sells the transition from a quiet dancer to a bold star without ever raising her voice.
Valentin’s Decline
Valentin loses his studio, his wife, and his fortune in quick succession. He moves into a small apartment with his valet, Clifton, and his dog, and he spends his final hours selling off his possessions. The film’s ending is bleak for him, tender for her. It is a fair trade, and it feels earned. Dujardin’s performance anchors the whole film. He plays Valentin with a lightness that hides the weight underneath, and when the weight comes out, the effect is devastating.
The Dream Sequence
There is a dream sequence where Valentin hears sound but cannot speak. It is a quiet moment, but it is the clearest statement of the film’s thesis. Sound is coming, and silence cannot answer it. The sequence is brief, but it lands. It tells the audience exactly what is happening to Valentin, and it does so without a single spoken line.
The Awards
The film was nominated for ten Academy Awards and won five. Dujardin won Best Actor, becoming the first French actor ever to win in that category. Hazanavicius won Best Director. The film itself won Best Picture, making it the first non-American/non-British film to win the award. It was also the first mainly silent film to win since 1927’s Wings, and the first film in the 4:3 aspect ratio to win since 1953’s From Here to Eternity.
The Verdict
“The Artist” is a confident, clever film that knows exactly what it wants to do. It is not a museum piece, and it is not a parody. It is a sincere love letter to a lost era, told with wit and sadness in equal measure. The actors are superb, the direction is assured, and the idea is executed perfectly. It is a film that earns its ambition.
Key Facts
- Runtime: 100 minutes
- Directed by Michel Hazanavicius
- Written by Michel Hazanavicius
- Nominated for ten Academy Awards, won five
- Won Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor
- First non-American/non-British film to win Best Picture
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