The Artist is a 2011 French^{[nb 1][2][3][4][5][6]} romantic comedy drama in the style of a black-and-white silent film.^{[7][8][9][10]} The film was written and directed by Michel Hazanavicius and stars Jean Dujardin and Bérénice Bejo.^[11] The story takes place in Hollywood, between 1927 and 1932, and focuses on the relationship of an older silent film star and a rising young actress, as silent cinema falls out of fashion and is replaced by the "talkies".

The Artist received near-universal acclaim from critics and won many accolades. Dujardin won the Best Actor Award at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, where the film premiered. The film was nominated for six Golden Globes, the most of any 2011 film, and won three; Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, Best Original Score, and Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for Dujardin. In January 2012 the film was nominated for twelve BAFTAs, also the most of any film from 2011,^[12] and won seven, the most wins of the night, including Best Film, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay for Hazanavicius, and Best Actor for Dujardin.

It was nominated for ten Academy Awards and won five,^[13] including Best Picture, Best Director for Hazanavicius, and Best Actor for Dujardin, who was the first French actor ever to win. It was the first French film to ever win Best Picture,^[14] the first mainly silent film to win since 1927's Wings (the first recipient of the Best Picture Award, in 1929), the first film presented in the 4:3 aspect ratio to win since 1955's Marty, the first black-and-white film to win since 1993's Schindler's List, and the first non-R-rated film to win since 2004's Million Dollar Baby.

In France, it was nominated for ten César Awards,^[15] winning six, including Best Film, Best Director for Hazanavicius and Best Actress for Bejo. The Artist became the most awarded French film in history.^[16]

Plot[link]

In 1927, silent film star George Valentin is posing for pictures outside the premiere of his latest hit film, A Russian Affair, when a young woman, Peppy Miller, accidentally bumps into him. Valentin reacts with humor to the accident and shows off Peppy for the cameras. The next day, Peppy finds herself on the front page of Variety with the headline "Who's That Girl?" Later, Peppy auditions as a dancer and is spotted by Valentin, who insists that she have a part in Kinograph Studios' next production, despite objections from the studio boss, Al Zimmer. While performing a scene together, Valentin and Peppy show great chemistry, despite her being merely an extra. With a little guidance from Valentin (he draws a beauty spot on her, which will eventually be her trademark, after finding her in his dressing room), Peppy slowly rises through the industry, earning more prominent starring roles.

Two years later, Zimmer announces the end of production of silent films at Kinograph Studios, but Valentin is dismissive, insisting that sound is just a fad. He decides to produce and direct his own silent film, financing it himself. The film opens on the same day as Peppy's new sound film as well as the 1929 Stock Market Crash. Now Valentin's only chance of avoiding bankruptcy is for his film to be a hit. Unfortunately audiences flock to Peppy's film instead and Valentin is ruined. His wife, Doris, kicks him out, and he moves into an apartment with his valet, Clifton. Peppy goes on to become a major Hollywood star.

Later, the bankrupt Valentin is forced to auction off all of his personal effects, and fires Clifton, telling him to get another job. Depressed and drunk, Valentin angrily sets a match to his private collection of his earlier films. As the nitrate film quickly blazes out of control he is overwhelmed by the smoke and passes out inside the burning house, still clutching a single film canister. His dog (Uggie) attracts the help of a nearby policeman, and after being rescued Valentin is hospitalized for injuries suffered in the fire. Peppy visits the hospital and asks for him to be moved to her house to recuperate. While at the hospital she discovers that the film he rescued is the one she was first in. Valentin awakens in a bed at her house, to find that Clifton is now working for Peppy.

Peppy insists to Zimmer that Valentin co-star in her next film, threatening to quit Kinograph if Zimmer does not agree to her terms. After Valentin learns that Peppy had purchased all his auctioned effects, he returns to his burnt-out apartment. Peppy arrives, panicked, and finds that Valentin is about to attempt suicide. The two reconcile, and remembering Valentin's superb dancing ability, Peppy persuades Zimmer to let them make a musical together.

Sound finally comes in as the film starts rolling for a dance scene with Peppy and Valentin. Once the choreography is complete, Zimmer calls out audibly "Cut! Perfect. Beautiful. Could you give me one more?" Valentin, in his only audible line, replies "With pleasure!" revealing his strong French accent.^[17]

Cast[link]

• Jean Dujardin as George Valentin
• Bérénice Bejo as Peppy Miller
• Uggie as Jack (the dog)
• John Goodman as Al Zimmer
• James Cromwell as Clifton
• Missi Pyle as Constance
• Penelope Ann Miller as Doris Valentin
• Malcolm McDowell as The Butler
• Bitsie Tulloch as Norma
• Beth Grant as Peppy's maid
• Ed Lauter as Peppy's first chauffeur
• Jen Lilley as Onlooker
• Nina Siemaszko as Admiring woman
• Jewel Shepard as Flapper starlet
• Basil Hoffman as Auctioneer
• Ben Kurland as Casting assistant
• Ken Davitian as Pawnbroker
• Matt Skollar as Peppy's assistant

Production[link]

Some of the cast and crew at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival : left to right, score composer Ludovic Bource, director Michel Hazanavicius, stars Missi Pyle, Bérénice Bejo, and Jean Dujardin, director of photography Guillaume Schiffman and producer Thomas Langmann.

Director Michel Hazanavicius had been fantasizing about making a silent film for many years, both because many filmmakers he admires emerged in the silent era, and because of the image-driven nature of the form. According to Hazanavicius his wish to make a silent film was at first not taken seriously, but after the financial success of his spy-film pastiches OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies and OSS 117: Lost in Rio, producers started to express interest. The forming of the film's narrative started with Hazanavicius' desire to work again with actors Jean Dujardin and Bérénice Bejo, Hazanivicius's wife, who had starred in OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies. Hazanavicius chose the form of the melodrama, mostly because he thought many of the films from the silent era which have aged best are melodramas. He did extensive research about 1920s Hollywood, and studied silent films to find the right techniques to make the story comprehensible without having to use too many intertitles. The screenplay took four months to write.^[18]

The Artist was filmed in thirty-five days,^[19] made in the 1.33:1 screen ratio commonly used in the silent film era. Though presented in black-and-white, it was shot in color by cinematographer Guillaume Schiffman.^[20] All the technical details, including lenses, lighting and camera moves, were calibrated to get the look just right.^[21] To recreate the slightly sped-up look of 1920s silent films, the film was shot at a slightly lower frame rate of 22 fps as opposed to the standard 24 fps.^[22] Most of the film is silent, except for two scenes of sound; one being a nightmare sequence and the other being the final scene in the film, where two characters speak, and the non-diegetic soundtrack. Throughout the shoot, Hazanavicius played music from classic Hollywood films while the actors performed.^[18]

The film was produced by La Petite Reine and ARP Sélection for 13.47 million euro, including co-production support from Studio 37 and France 3 Cinéma, and pre-sales investment from Canal+ and CinéCinéma.^[23] The cast and the crew included both French and American members.^[18]

American costume designer Mark Bridges created the wardrobe for the film's cast.^[24]

Music[link]

The film's music was composed by Ludovic Bource and produced in Belgium. It was recorded by Brussels Philharmonic and conducted by Ernst Van Tiel. Recording took place during six days in April 2011 at Flagey's Studio 4 in Brussels.^[25]

The film's climactic scene is set to Bernard Herrmann's "Scene D'Amour" from his score to Alfred Hitchcock's film Vertigo. In Vertigo, that composition similarly accompanies an extended scene without dialogue. Only one song (sung, with lyrics) is used in the soundtrack, "Pennies from Heaven", sung by Rose "Chi-Chi" Murphy (uncredited). This song was written in 1936 although the film is set between 1927 and 1932.

The soundtrack was released on 21 October 2011 through Sony Classical Records.^[26]

Track listing

Release[link]

Jean Dujardin and Bérénice Bejo at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival

The film premiered on 15 May in competition at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.^[27] It was initially announced as an out of competition entry, but was moved to the competition a week before the festival opened.^[28] The French regular release was on 12 October 2011 through Warner Bros. France.^[29] The Weinstein Company bought the distribution rights for the United States and Australia and Entertainment Film Distributors bought the UK distribution.^[30] The film was initially given limited release in the United States on 25 November 2011.^[31]

Following its wins at the 69th Golden Globe Awards, it was announced Warner Bros. would re-release the film in France in 362 theaters on 25 January 2012.^[32][33] It was also re-released in Belgium on 22 February 2012.^[34]

Box office[link]

As of May 31, 2012, The Artist has grossed $44,585,292 in North America, along with $88,761,174 in other territories for a worldwide total of $133,346,466.^[1] After its success at the Academy Awards, the film saw a moderate boost the following week on the box office in North America. It appeared on the week's top 10 chart and got an increase of 34% while expanding its release from 966 theaters to 1,756.^[35]

Critical reception[link]

Review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes reports that 98% of critics have given The Artist a positive review based on 205 reviews, with an average rating of 8.8/10, making the film a "Certified Fresh" on the website's rating system.^[36] At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film received an average score of 89, based on 41 reviews, which indicates "Universal Acclaim". The reviewers at Spill.com gave it their highest rating, a "Better than Sex"^[37]

Mark Adams of Screen Daily called the film "a real pleasure"; "propelled elegantly forward by delightful performances from Jean Dujardin and Bérénice Bejo it is the most unlikely of feel-good movies." He added however: "The film does feel a little sluggish towards the end of the first third as the music is a little repetitive and the intertitles are infrequent, but Hazanavicius manages to give the film a real sense of charm and warmth, and film fans will be competing to spot visual and musical references."^[38] Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian described how the film "had me on my feet cheering throughout the final credits" and stated "I can't wait to see it again".^[39]

Geoffrey McNab at The Independent called the film "both a surefire crowdpleaser and a magnificent piece of film-making" in his 5 star review from the Cannes Film Festival.^[40]Rick Groen of The Globe and Mail assessed The Artist highly, noting the film "uses old technology to dazzling effect to illustrate the insistent conquest of a new technology."^[41] Sukanya Verma for Rediff.com feels The Artist is an extremely well-researched film and is an instant classic.^[42] David Thomson of The New Republic called The Artist an "accomplished and witty entertainment" and went on to write, "Whether Hazanavicius can do more things as elegant and touching, without the gimmick of silence, remains to be seen (and heard). Meanwhile, he is to be congratulated on the grounds of pleasure alone. He may be due for much more in the way of rewards."^[43]

Writing for Slant Magazine, Jaime N. Christley gave the film 1.5 out of 4 stars, explaining Michel Hazanavicius ignores "everything that's fascinating and memorable about the era, focusing instead on a patchwork of general knowledge, so eroded of inconvenient facts that it doesn't even qualify as a roman à clef."^[44] America Magazine argued that while Jean Dujardin carried the film, Bejo's performance was disappointing.^[45]

Kim Novak controversy[link]

On 9 January 2012, actress Kim Novak stated that "rape" had been committed in regard to the musical score by Ludovic Bource, which incorporates a portion of Bernard Herrmann's score from Alfred Hitchcock's 1958 film Vertigo (in which Novak had starred). In the article published, by Variety, she stated that "I feel as if my body — or at least my body of work — has been violated by the movie."^[46] "This film should've been able to stand on its own without depending on Bernard Herrmann's score from Alfred Hitchcock's 'Vertigo' to provide more drama" and that "It is morally wrong for the artistry of our industry to use and abuse famous pieces of work to gain attention and applause for other than what they were intended", ending her comments with "Shame on them!"^[47]

In response, director Hazanavicius released a statement:

"The Artist was made as a love letter to cinema, and grew out of my (and all of my cast and crew’s) admiration and respect for movies throughout history. It was inspired by the work of Hitchcock, Lang, Ford, Lubitsch, Murnau and Wilder. I love Bernard Herrmann and his music has been used in many different films and I’m very pleased to have it in mine. I respect Kim Novak greatly and I’m sorry to hear she disagrees."^[48]

Hazanavicius also told CNN "I used music from another movie, but it’s not illegal. We paid for that, we asked for that and we had the permission to do it. For me there is no real controversy.... I feel sorry for her, but there’s a lot of movies with music from other movies, directors do that all the time and I’m not sure it’s a big deal."^[47]

In May 2011, when the film was first shown at the Cannes Festival, Todd McCarthy from The Hollywood Reporter mentioned the use of Herrmann's music, "Hazanavicius and Bource daringly choose to explicitly employ Bernard Herrmann’s love theme from Vertigo, which is dramatically effective in its own right but is so well known that it yanks you out of one film and places you in the mind-set of another. Surely some sort of reworked equivalent would have been a better idea."^[17]

Home media[link]

The Artist is scheduled to be released in the U.S. on DVD and Blu-ray on 26 June 2012.^[49] It was released in the UK on 28 May 2012.

Top ten lists[link]

The film has appeared on the following critics' top ten lists for the best films of 2011:

Awards and nominations[link]

At the 65th British Academy Film Awards, the film won seven awards, including Best Film, Best Actor for Dujardin, Best Original Screenplay for Hazanavicius, Cinematography for Schiffman, Costume Design for Bridges and Original Score for Ludovic Bource.^[58][59] At the 69th Golden Globe Awards, the film was nominated for six Golden Globes to win three of them; Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for Dujardin and Best Musical Score for Bource.^[60][61]

At the 84th Academy Awards, The Artist received ten nominations, winning five awards, including Best Picture, Best Director for Hazanavicius, Best Actor for Dujardin, Best Costume Design, and Best Original Score.^[62][63][64]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: The Artist (film)

• Official website
• The Artist at the Internet Movie Database
• The Artist at AllRovi
• The Artist at Box Office Mojo
• The Artist at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Artist at Metacritic