Review of the movie 'The Artist'

'The Artist' is a French romantic drama film setup in a classic old background of 1927 when most of the production houses in the world produced only silent film. This movie too is a silent classic wherein a rising young star falls in love with an older silent film star, it also focuses on the way cinema moved from silent films to talkies. this film is one of the most critically acclaimed films of today's time. It has won many praises for the work done by the actors and actresses in the movie and also for the beautiful direction done by Michel Hazanivicius. Produced by Thomas Langmann, this movie stars Jean Dujardin as the male lead and Berenice Bejo as the female lead. This movie was nominated for six Golden Globe Awards out of which it won three. It had also been nominated for twelve BAFTA's out of which it won eight including The Best Film, Best Director and The Best Actor. currently it has been nominated for the Academy Awards and in France it has been nominated for the Cesar Awards. It is a very beautiful movie though setup in an old background its has too many relevances with mordern cinema, it is a movie definetly worth watching. This movie is an attempt to bring back the magic of black and white, silent films. I personally think it is a very good effort and has definetly succeeded in giving the audience something different and an out-of-the-box experience.

The story of the film seems very predictable but a surprisingly happy ending is a factor that makes the movie stand out from other Hollywood Classics. The story starts in 1927 where George Valentin (Jean Dujardin) is attending the premiere of his latest movie A Russian Affair. Outside the theater he is posing for the press when suddenly a pretty young woman is accidentally pushed into Valentine. This incident becomes a sensational news and is all over the newspapers the very next day. Seeing her photograph on the front page of the newspaper Peppy Miller desires to become an actress and after a few days auditions as a dancer and is spotted my Valentin, who then recommends Miller to Al Zimmer (John Goodman), the boss of Kinograph Studios. Thus with a little guidance from Valentin, Miller slowly rises in the industry and starts getting more prominent roles. Two years later, Al Zimmer expresses his desire to enter into talkies, however valentin does not take him seriously and makes fun of him and tells him that sound is just a fad nd refuses to work with Zimmer on talkies. After this Valentin sets out make his own films. Unfortunately his film opens along with Miller's new sound film and people flock to Miller's movie and Valentin is ruined completely. This incident pulls him towards bankruptcy. Due to all the frustration and depression within him he gets angry and sets fire to all the tapes of his earlier films and also gets caught in the fire. However to his fortune he is rescued. Miller visits the hospital and asks for him to be moved to her house. At Miller's house he finds that all his things that had been auctioned earlier were with Peppy Miller. On the other hand on the set Miller threatens Zimmer to quit Kinograph studios if he does not cast Valentin as her co star in the next movie. Back at Miller's house Valentin gets frustrated and leaves her house and goes to his burnt apartment where he plans to commit suicide. Just as he is about to press d trigger Miller reaches there. they both reconcile and she finally persuades him to do a musical in her next film. Finally sound sets in as the film starts rolling for the dance scene with Miller and Valentin. In the end Zimmer calls out "Cut! beautiful, could you give me one more?" and Valentine in his first audible line replies "With pleasure".
                   The music of the film is another striking feature of the film as the background score is set beautifully and helps you understand the seriousness of the scene and the flow of emotions on the screen. The music of the film is composed by Ludovic Bource and produced in Belgium. It was recorded by Brussles Philharmonic and conducted Ernst Van Tiel.
                  The review of the movie has been very positive. 97% of the critics have given the film a positive review with an average of 8.8/10 based on 188 reviews making the film a 'certified fresh' on the websites rating system. Mark Adams of Screen Daily called the film a 'real pleasure'; 'propelled elegantly forward by delightful performances by Jean Dujardin and Berenice Bejo'. Peter Bradshaw of The Gaurdian said, 'had me on my feet cheering throughout the final credits and I cant wait to watch it again. Geoffrey McNab called the film 'a surefire crowdpleaser and a magnificent piece of film making'. Rick Groen of The Globe and Mail assessed the film highly, noting the film, 'uses old technology to dazzling effects to illustrate the insistent conquest of a new technology'. A superb movie with a sweet, simple story, presented with a lot of grace and elegance. Yes, friends this movie might not have those item songs or those action packed performances but this movie definetly has the capacity to keep you entertained for those 100 minutes. The technology used in the making of this film has been very basic, simple, the one which was used in the earlier times and the director has still managed to give us such a wonderful piece of art, which thus brings us to a conclusion that 'cinema is NEVER too old' we had long back givenm the idea of maing black and white, silent films but today this film is regenerating this old art into the minds of young aspiring directors. So friends do go and watch it, releasing in India on 24th of Feb and I am sure after the movie most of you are bound say 'it truly was a wonderful and a very unique experience'. Thus this film is opening up new portals for Indian cinema by simply bringing back the simple and basic ideas of film making used in the earlier times.

Priyanka Kapoor,
Roll No 19.