In 2011 a film was released that showed audiences an older side to Hollywood. The movie was later nominated for a total of six Golden Globes, twelve BAFTA’s (British Academy of Film and Television Arts), and ten Academy Awards. That film, titled The Artist, directed by Michel Hazanavicius, starring French actors Jean Dujardin as the lead George Valentin, Berenice Bejo as the lovely Peppy Miller, and John Goodman as the studio boss Al Zimmer. The Artist takes place in Hollywood in 1927, “George Valentin (Jean Dujardin) is a silent movie superstar. The advent of the talkies will sound the death knell for his career and see him fall into oblivion. For young extra Peppy Miller (Berenice Bejo), it seems the sky is the limit - major movie stardom awaits. The Artist tells the story of their interlinked destinies” [(C) Weinstein]. Overall, The Artist is considered one of the best films to come in a long time. The reason being that the film is so different then what has come out of Hollywood in recent years and what makes this film unlike others is that the acting style is so different from the standard Hollywood acting style and it shows a historical period of the film industry.
For starters The Artist (partially playing on the film being set in the late 20’s, and early 30’s) is a black and white, silent film. Already that puts this film in a different category from most movies coming out today. So, in relation to that, the acting is in a different category as well. The film has no diegetic sound and is almost completely image-driven; so the actors had to, no pun intended, act accordingly. In a silent film the acting style needs to be more unique and stylized/theatrical. However, there are many people in America and the world who have never seen a silent film before and most modern day film has invisible acting, which looks completely natural. So, what is so great about The Artist is that the film incorporates both old and new styles to acting.
The characters in the film are actors, and the film takes place in the 1920s when silent films were extremely popular. The audience gets to see a historical period of the film industry and things that were actually happening in real life. There were many actors and actresses who were thrown out of work once “talkies” started to become the major hits. We see the actors during their silent films and we see how they start acting in films with talking.
The audience, in respect, then watches the characters go from a very theatrical and stylized way of acting, which we see in the clips of their movies, to a semi-modern style of acting when they are the characters in their every day lives. I am using the term semi-modern because the actors had to, at least in my opinion, do more acting then is required in most modern films.
Yes The Artist is a silent film, but what made the actors do so much more than most is the movies lack of inter-titles. A lot of full-length silent films had inter-titles through out conversations between two characters. However, The Artist did not seem to do that. In fact there were full conversations that happened in the film where only one inter-title came up. This meant that in order for the audience to understand what was going on, they had to highly rely on the actors’ expressions and the music. Making the audience think for themselves and creates a sort of connection to the characters.
Through out this film all of the actors gave tremendous performances and as a whole the film was directed beautifully. I loved how the film represents a historical era in the film industry. It shows the struggle of certain actors when the times and technology started to change. Anything that brings a classical sense to modern day audiences is usually pretty awesome in my book and trust me when I say; overall, The Artist is a fantastic film. It is clever, different, and in many ways a refreshing change from the modern Hollywood films we see everyday. The acting style is unique because of its mixture of old and new styles when it comes to acting and the historical content makes the film a feel fresh and different then most films. Even if to just re-watch the expressions the actors have through out, this film is definitively something to see again.
Zach,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your blog post about The Artist because it is interesting to see what other people thought of the same film that I saw and had many opinions about. But before I even get to the blog post itself I would like to talk about the style of the blog. I liked the background picture that you used in to set up your blog. I’m guessing it Alfred Hitchcock with a little twist to it because it looks like his face is melting (maybe it’s just me).
Now getting to your blog post. First off, the image that you used with the title of the film was really great. I thought it was a cool design to show the two main characters of the film and also gives a little bit of knowledge about what is going to later happen in the film. After the first image you continued to use still frames of the film, which allowed to reader of your blog to see what the films style looks like. One thing I did like is that you gave the film a good set up allowing readers who may have not seen the film a little knowledge about what is happening in the film.
The first main point that you get to that I thought was interesting is your critique on the lack of inter-titles. When I watched the film, that thought never crossed my mind about inter-titles because of other silent films that I’ve watched have always included these inter-titles. I believe that The Artist did not need the use of inter-titles because the film had just a strong story line and strong acting. The director had no use for inter-titles I believe other than my two previous points, because if he had used inter-titles I think it would have seemed to have dumbed down the film in order for the audience to understand what was going on.
The last point that you made before you ending your post is about the acting. I agree totally about the acting because each actor gave tremendous performances. The two main actors used the expressions on their faces to help tell the story and as the viewer I was able to connect with them. Even the smallest role in the film appeared to be important to the entire film and the smallest role that I can think of has an emphasis on small with the dog being an important role. I think sometimes people forget that the dog in the film was able to tell the story as well as the actors. He gave emotions and was a very well trained dog to be able to act within the film.