The magical sound of a silent

Rating: 10/10 (5 May 2013)

Starting off with visual quotes from ancient films like "Metropolis" and "Frankenstein" Michel Hazanavicius' "The Artist" shouts its message right in your face: "I won't talk!" In intertitles, that is. Yep, the protagonist means it. And he'll also stay in black and white. And in 1.33:1 aspect ratio. There you have it. Next stop: The silent era! And once we've arrived all of a sudden the period is alive and kicking like Frankenstein's monster, except that it will be sending jolts of joy through your body. What we have here is a magnificently unique idea, charming direction, a grandiose soundtrack, perfect costume design and Jean Dujardin and Bérénice Bejo as the leads who must have time traveled to 2011 to be able to portray the 1930s and onwards so convincingly, as even without words their faces and gestures speak volumes.
Cinema has gone through a lot in the past decades that gradually sucked art out of the medium: The breakthrough of the blockbuster in the seventies and the building of multiplexes in order to expand reaching and streamlining audiences, the growth of sensationalism for profit's sake, the inflationary distortions of reality spurred by ever present effects and increasing noise, the disappearance of the story in convoluted plots in order to be able to harbor some final surprises... Well, after all that a breath of fresh air is a blessing to anyone with a sincere love for cinema. "The Artist" goes against the flow and restores some of the art without appearing artificial. Time for some pure back to the roots entertainment of the grand scale and with its simple yet poignant story the film doesn't strive to be anything but. While back in the days black and white was dictated by the medium's limitations, it also signified a filter, a style, which now again - brought back via a postmodern lens - helps to see things differently than we are used to in real life. Music, not words, floats through the air and the picture prefers to conclude with a tap dance rather than a twist for a twist's sake. In all that "The Artist" serves as a reminder, a reminder of what we gain by taking a step back, by opening our eyes and ears to experience the beauty and the magic that reverberates in the sound of a perfect silent.