Trailer
Plot summary
It's 1927. Arguably Hollywood's most admired movie screen idol, George Valentin, is enjoying the success of his latest picture, The Russian Affair. He enjoys his work and the adulation he receives by being a movie star, as witnessed by how he hogs the spotlight during The Russian Affair's post-premiere bows. Peppy Miller is an aspiring young actress, who literally and figuratively runs into Valentin at the premiere, which ends up being the launching pad to her Hollywood acting career. The advent of talking pictures brings a reversal to their fortunes as Kinograph, the movie studio where Valentin is under contract, is looking for fresh faces such as Peppy Miller to star in their talking pictures, while Valentin resists the entire notion of talking pictures. Peppy, who appreciates everything that Valentin did for her career, tries to help him as much as she can, but Valentin may have to decide on his own where and if he fits into the Hollywood machine, one where he doesn't think people want to hear him speak.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Artist (2011)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The Artist became the first non-American, non-British film ever to win Best Picture at the Oscars, the first mainly silent film to win since Wings in 1929, and the first 100% black-and-white film to win since The Apartment in 1960.
- Jean Dujardin won the Academy Award for Best Actor for playing silent star George Valentin, becoming the first French actor ever to win in that category.
- In January 2012, actress Kim Novak said a metaphorical "rape" had been committed by the film's use of Bernard Herrmann's Vertigo score, which accompanies its final portion in a 1992 recording conducted by Elmer Bernstein.
- Although it looks like a silent black-and-white film, The Artist was shot in colour by cinematographer Guillaume Schiffman, and at 22 frames per second instead of the standard 24 to mimic the sped-up look of 1920s silents.
- The dance sequence that closes the film took seventeen takes, and Jean Dujardin and Bérénice Bejo spent five months studying tap dancing for it, with Dujardin saying the first week was fun and the fifth week "a little boring".
- The soundtrack uses only one sung song with lyrics, "Pennies from Heaven", performed by Rose "Chi-Chi" Murphy, and it was written in 1936 even though the film is set between 1927 and 1932.
- The Artist has received more awards than any other French film, among them six César Awards including Best Film and Best Actress for Bérénice Bejo.
