Recently, I watched The Artist, the Best Picture winner of 2011. I definitely enjoyed this film. It's absolutely adorable, and also absolutely heartbreaking. The story starts off fast-paced and cheery, but quickly spirals into the sad story of a man who believes he is worth absolutely nothing. The only silent films I have ever seen have all been happy, lol-inducing stories. Not this one.
George Valentin was a huge silent film star, before the talkies put him out of business. George finds himself jobless and completely forgotten by Hollywood and his former fans. His protege, Peppy Miller, steps on him to make her way to fame and fortune through the talkies. George sinks into depression. Watching his downward spiral is really hard. The acting is phenomenal (I can see why he won Best Actor now).
Honestly, the first half hour of the movie was kind of slow. I might have just been "warming up" to the silent film style of filmmaking, but also, it's mostly a lot of set up. George Valentin is famous - yes, we get it. As soon as George's boss shows him talkies, the film starts to get more interesting. George starts to realize that no one really cared about him, that he was just a passing fad. He pushes away the only people who truly did care for him. As his life fall apart bit by bit, I was completely sucked into the story, and no longer noticed that no one spoke.
Although this isn't one of my favorite films, it is extremely well-made, and extremely well-acted. I would watch it again just for Jean Valjean's performance as George Valentin. I think that The Artist is a perfect example of how filmmaking and acting is meant to be-performances so strong that you can convey emotions, feelings, and character depth without speaking a single word.
Check out the trailer (which doesn't give justice to the film, I don't think) below!
LOVED that movie!!! Definitely one of my favorites!
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