Safely Earned its Best Picture Award, Great on Many Levels

Rating: 8/10 (20 July 2012)

A silent movie star (Jean Dujardin) meets a young dancer, but the arrival of talking pictures sends their careers in opposite directions.
By itself, this picture is pretty great. It is a tale of love, of pride and the tragedy of a man's stubbornness to keep up with the times. Whether you are an actor or in any other profession, shunning the latest advancements will leave you in the dust.
The lead character, George Valentin, is an interesting man. We cannot fully feel sorry for him -- his troubles are largely his own fault. Yet, he is so lovable that we have to side with him to some degree, even if we know his efforts are in vain. He is not cruel or spiteful, just proud. Too proud.
And yet, beyond the great story is a beautiful film. They took the idea of a silent film and brought it in a new direction. I love silent films, but have to admit many of them can be tedious for today's audience. This movie knows its audience and never allows the silence to be a hindrance -- thus being ironic, promoting the story of silent movies' demise in a successful silent movie! It is the better half of "Singing in the Rain" in this regard.
And the film is not only a love letter to the silent film era but to silent film directors in particular. Using only the styles they had in their day (this film has no zoom shots, for example) we see Murnau's direction accentuated -- particularly his classic "Sunrise". Will this movie cause kids to go out and rent films from the 1920s? Probably not, but it should -- Murnau's genius stands tall even today, as this modern homage proves.
2011 was an interesting year for film. Many great films had a connection to France and Paris, with three in particular -- this film features a French cast, both "Hugo" and "Midnight in Paris" take place in Paris. All three films also bring us back to the early days, with "Midnight in Paris" showcasing great writers and artists and "Hugo" actually involving Georges Meliere -- the inventor of cinema -- as a character! But "The Artist" really nails it. It transcends the history of film, the "now" of time and the barrier of language. It truly is the best film of 2011.