The Artist
Michel Hazanavicious, France-Belgium, 2011 (8.5*)
Best Picture (AA, BAA)
Best Picture (AA, BAA)
Having won 114 awards so far,
second only to Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, you would expect this
film to be one of the truly great cinematic masterpieces of all time. For me,
it’s a good but not great film, not as good a 2011 film as Malick’s The Tree of
Life, or Refn’s Drive, but I’d put it in the tier after that (with Midnight in Paris, The Help, Rango, and Ides of March). Most of the film is silent like it’s 20’s film star, George Valentin – even though it’s more like an enjoyable and rewarding romance in the tradition of classic 30’s films like My Man Godfrey, The Awful Truth, and My
Favorite Wife (40’s?). Of course, by now familiarity makes this a fairly
predictable ‘boy meets girl’ story.
Director Michel Hazanavicious,
who also wrote the screenplay, has created a long overdue homage to films of
that era which was also shot in the style of those films, including the same
4:3 aspect ratio of 35mm prints, and of course, black and white cinematography. Of course, we're not forgetting Peter Bogdanovich's Paper Moon, which treaded similar ground regarding creating a visual reference to a classic cinematic style of the past.
The story is
nothing new – it combines the boy meets girl story with the “rags to riches”
and “riches to rags” stories of it’s two stars. Jean Dejardin won an Oscar (and
13 other awards) for
his portrayal of fictitious silent film star George Valentin who bears an uncanny
resemblance to the story of Douglas Fairbanks (except for a little average
dancing), who was a swashbuckling action star and top box office draw in silent
films, but, like many others, who never really made the transition when sound
pictures arrived.
His
real-life girlfriend, Bérénice Bejo, (photo above) steals the film for me as a young extra, and
won seven acting awards
for her Oscar-nominated performance as Peppy Miller, who catches George’s fancy
in a ballroom dance scene in one of his silent films after stumbling into him outside a movie premiere for all the photographers to catch before that. He’s so immediately
struck with her that he has trouble completing a simple scene, but the two part
when the filming ends and follow their own career paths.
.. but, of
course, George cannot shake her from his mind. At the same time, sound arrives
to films, at which he scoffs, like many, thinking it will never catch on with
the public – just like I didn’t think 3D would after so many failures in my
lifetime.
His studio
mogul, played by John Goodman, welcomes the new format but decides to can
Valentin, thinking the new younger audience will also want new personalities
talking, not aging silent stars. At the same time, Peppy Martin starts moving
up the ladder to the stars, and her vivacious personality is a big hit, both
within the story, and for Bejo in real life – in fact, for me, her energy,
smile, and optimism steal the film as well as Jules/Georges heart.
Uggie is a Jack Russell terrier saved
from a pound by trainer Omar Von Muller
There’s also
a wonderful Jack Russell terrier named Uggie, claiming an award above, who adds welcome comic relief to what could
have been a dreary story of the fall of a legend, from wealth to destitution. Uggie was also in Water for Elephants (2011), and What's Up, Scarlett (2005, comma required, lol). He obviously reminds most cinema fans of
Asta, the spunky scene-stealing dog from the Thin Man series who starred in 14 films himself
in the 30’s and 40’s, including My Favorite Wife.
For me, the
one failing here is that half an hour into the film, Georges attends his first
sound picture, because it stars Peppy Martin. At this point, director
Hazanavicious should have introduced sound into this picture; unfortunately he
did not, so we see an early talkie in silence, and we also do not hear the
onscreen audiences reactions to the star-making film of Martin’s. By this point
in The Artist, the gimmick of silence is wearing thin, and is not helped much
by a dream of George's in which he hears the sounds of life but cannot talk
himself. The only other sound in the picture is at the very end. I kept
thinking that this would be a classic 30’s style film, but those all had sound,
so instead this is more like an average 20’s film, very much like a Charlie
Chaplin story, with lots of tear-wrenching pathos that keep it on the verge of
tragedy, when it could have been more light-hearted and effervescent. It’s touted as a comedy, with
a couple of dance numbers that are obviously not Astaire and Rodgers (though
still fun in spirit), but spends 90% of it’s time as a tragic drama, relieved
by a few humorous touches, mostly in the beginning of the story.
Definitely
worth seeing, and an enjoyable if predictable story, but also overrated
with this many awards. Malick's The Tree of Life (60 awards, including the Palm D'Or at Cannes) was a bigger hit with critics,
and Drive (40 awards) was perhaps the sleeper of the year, both of which seemed
closer to unforgettable cinematic art to me. But The Artist was definitely
better than the dreariness of The Descendants, and was about on par with The
Help, the two other films winning the most awards for the year; also with Take
Shelter (31 awards), Woody's Midnight in Paris, and George Clooney’s overlooked The Ides of March.
Let’s hope
that for Hazanavicious’ next film, he moves forward with time and adds sound so
we can hear the laughter, the dialogue, and the dog barking.
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