The Artist
Angelika, January 8, 2012
Movie #4 for 2012
A 1920s silent film star (JEAN DUJARDIN) lives in a world that is pretty much a 1920s silent film. He is as dashing off screen as he is on. In this world women (PENELOPE ANN MILLER, BERENICE BEJO, pictured with Dujardin), bosses (JOHN GOODMAN) and well-trained dogs all behave like they would in a silent movie. This is a conceit with plenty to mine as writer –director MICHEL HAZANAVICIUS manipulates the world he’s created in inventive, self-reflexive and at times breathtakingly brilliant ways. But the cleverness of the conceit is also its main constraint.
Although it makes for a beautiful looking and clever film, the narrative and character development really suffers. The love story is old-fashioned and creaky as the girl starts with lots of pluck but is stayed in her agency by a pining unrequited love for the leading man (who turns from charismatic to wallowing in self-absorption). Her initial crush is easy to understand – he’s a star, she’s an aspiring starlet - but that it lingers beyond her ambitious ascension and his pig-headed decline may be faithful to 1920s storytelling, but is anachronistic now.
The actors are extraordinary though - Bejo’s physicality is particularly impressive and Dujardin smiles like a movie star. There’s a lot of fun to be had with the Artist, just not much of a story to be engaged by.
