Quite enjoyable!

Rating: 8/10 (22 January 2012)

A highly enjoyable little throwback to the silent film era. It's more or less a slightly altered version of Singin' in the Rain. Its male star, Jean Dujardin, is even a dead ringer for Gene Kelly (and, in a far too brief role, the wonderful character actress Missi Pyle also makes a great stand-in for Jean Hagen). Dujardin plays the great silent film star George Valentin, a Douglas Fairbanks type who makes swashbucklers and spy films, is always aided by his trusty dog (played by Uggie, but strangely never named in the film), and always wins the girl. One day he meets up with an attractive extra, Peppy Miller (Berenice Bejo), who meets his fancy. Unfortunately, he's married, so that romance has to die before it even starts. The film opens in 1927 - a couple of years go by and Valentin is being pushed out by the advent of sound, while Peppy is becoming a major star. The story isn't anything really special, honestly, and the silent filmmaking, while it is well done, is nothing more than a gimmick. The film might not work at all if it weren't for Dujardin and Bejo, both of whom are just charming as all get-out. Bejo in particular is just one of the most gorgeous starlets ever - it was really surprising to find out she's been toiling away in the industry for over a decade now (she co-starred in A Knight's Tale, with Heath Ledger, in 2001). It takes a while to get over Dujardin's resemblance to Gene Kelly (I have to imagine director Michel Hazanavicius, who made the two French spy spoofs in the OSS 117 series with Dujardin, came up with the idea by wondering what it would be like to remake Singin' in the Rain with the star), but I did eventually. I was enjoying the film so much I have to admit I didn't even notice the use of Bernard Herrmann's Vertigo theme.