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This is a black and white silent movie which, for some reason, is expected to attract 2011 audiences. With a budget of $12 million, it all seems rather self-indulgent, exceedingly pretentious and has a serious case of the Emperor’s New Clothes.
It’s 1927 Hollywood and George Valentin (Jean Dujardin) is the reigning silent screen idol. He lives in his elegant mansion with his beautiful wife, Doris (Penelope Ann Miller) and is chauffeured around by Clifton (James Cromwell). Peppy Miller (Berenice Bejo) is an aspiring actress who gets a gig in Valentin’s latest film and, as the two tap dance across the studio floor, the chemistry is palpable. The two part and Peppy gets her next job in a talking film, while Valentin dismisses the new genre as a fad and invests everything he has on the production of a new silent movie.
There should be an overwhelming creative reason to make a black and white silent film in this 3D-special-effects era. The first drama BBC Radio ever aired was a story about a team of miners trapped in a coal mine where it is, of course, pitch black. This not only showed a touch of genius but served as a worthy introduction to a landmark that was to become an enduring part of entertainment culture. The Artist could work in any genre, and if the filmmakers felt so passionately about the story, Valentin’s silent films could have been simply incorporated; a taste works, 1 hour and 40 minutes is overload.
The theme of this film is obviously about how damaging it can be to hang onto the past. As Valentin watches Peppy’s spectacular rise in talking movies, he still stubbornly refuses to be part of the new technology, even at the risk of financial and personal ruin. However, when the resolution finally comes, everything is neatly tied up, with all the characters’ previous behavior totally ignored and we are lead mindlessly to ‘The End’. This is really lazy storytelling and if the filmmakers could find no way to bring a resolution to their story without dialogue, then maybe making a silent film wasn’t such a great idea.
Had this melodrama been released in 1927, it would probably have had a short theatrical run and then been shelved to make way for Chaplin et al. However, when it played at Cannes this year, it actually won a Best Actor award, which must have ticked off all the other actors who spent hours learning their lines. Such an accolade may also encourage equally gimmicky films to be entered in Cannes 2012, and we could even end up with a remake of the BBC play about the miners, with everyone looking at a black screen for two hours. Remember, you read it here first.