The Artist (2011) * * * 1/2

Directed by:  Michel Hazanvicious

Starring:  Jean Dujardin, Bereniece Bejo, John Goodman, Penelope Ann Miller, Ed Lauter, Missi Pyle, James Cromwell

The Artist is a black and white silent (ok, mostly silent) film which is light, fun, and enormously entertaining.    Since the actors aren't heard, their expressive faces need to do the acting.     They are up to the task.     The people in it are sweet and loving, except maybe for George Valentin's wife Doris (Miller) who leaves him as his silent film career is drying up with the advent of talkies.     Since George is French, his accent likely wouldn't translate well to talking pictures.     However, as a silent film star, he is the most famous actor this side of Charlie Chaplin.  

It took some nerve and faith to make a silent film in 2011 which harkens back to the Hollywood of the 1920's.   Some people may have heard it was a silent film and wrote it off without seeing it.    That would be a shame, because The Artist is so much fun the viewer becomes absorbed in it.     I had to remind myself that I was sitting in a movie theater in 2012 watching a silent film.    Yes, it's that effective.

In terms of story, The Artist doesn't break much new ground.     The aforementioned Valentin (Dujardin)  is a huge film star who is lauded throughout Hollywood.       He's also a pretty nice guy with a smile for everyone.     We see that smile often, especially when he meets Peppy Miller (Bejo), an aspiring actress whose first name is just like her personality.    She's...well...peppy and she and George fall in love although neither act on it.    She is discovered and quickly becomes a rising star in talkies while George's star falls quickly.     Soon, he is out of work and out of his house.     He winds up living in a small apartment accompanied by his loyal dog Uggie and Clifton (Cromwell), who insists on being George's butler even though George can't pay him.  

The cigar-chomping, bombastic studio head (Goodman) likes George well enough, but he becomes box-office poison and business is business.      George's weakness is his pride.    He would rather sit alone in his apartment feeling sorry for himself than allow anyone to help him.     On the outskirts of his life is Peppy, who still loves him and wishes to help him revive his career if he would only let her.     There is a moving scene in which George is forced to sell his possessions and we discover who later who bought them.      We also understand the buyer's motives, which are good although George doesn't necessarily see it that way.

The Artist is a technically superior film which could very well pass for an authentic silent comedy if we didn't know it was made in 2011.     There is a wall-to-wall score which helps to outline the emotion.     The Hollywood of the 1920s is lovingly recreated.   Dujardin, an actor famous in France before The Artist (for which he won a Best Actor Oscar), could've been quite a silent star.    He has charisma and he's charming.     We like him and we want to see him make a comeback.     Bejo has a smile to match Dujardin's and she is appropriately spunky and lovable.

The Artist isn't gimmicky.    The film has a love for the silent era and pays homage to it.    I don't know how many more silent films we will see made in the near future, but The Artist was a gamble that worked.