Charming, clever, tribute to the movies -- but is there a Shyamalan twist?

Rating: 10/10 (11 February 2012)

There are plenty of reviews of this inspired film, so I won't repeat what many others have said.
One thing about the lead character, George Valentin, that I have not seen mentioned: Is part of this story that the character is gay? Not that there's anyth (sorry, I won't even finish that) ... but considering the film from that angle, it may even make the love story between George and Peppy more poignant, because it's a loving friendship.
What makes me think this might be so: When his wife is about to leave George, she says "I'm unhappy." His response: "So are millions of us." Millions of who? Was this a reference to the studios' covering up of the orientations of their leading men? Was his wife merely a beard?
What else makes me this: The relationship that develops between Peppy and George is only platonic -- we never even see a romantic kiss. If you look back on it from this perspective, it's almost like the big twist in The Sixth Sense: Oh, he was (fill in the blank) all along!
This might even explain George's reluctance to appear in talkies. At the end, we hear his French accent ... But could it be that there was more to it than that, and that there was something else George feared the new technology would reveal?
And there are many references to George's "pride" being his undoing. What kind of pride, George? Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but it is one more coincidence.
If I've written any of this in an insensitive way to anyone, my apologies -- I hope that's not the case. This just seems like a potentially big deal. It's almost like The Artist had one more trick of the early films up its sleeve in how it slyly camouflages this fact about its star.