Dujardin and Bejo |
A silent film's homage to Hollywood's silent age...that's what the much lauded movie The Artist is essentially about, and I must admit the Star is Born story of the career demise of the silent film star George Valentin (Jean Dujardin) took a bit of getting used to as the story cracked on a pace backed only by a jaunty orchestral score by composer Ludovic Bource.
But I did get use to it, and was, in fact, won over completely by the wonderfully engaging central performance by Dujardin ( who amazingly resembles a swaggering Gene Kelly) He charms the pants off the audience and does so effortlessly without really saying a word!
The film's pivotal scene seals the deal when Valentin meets spunky starlet Peppy Miller ( an equally engaging Bérénice Bejo) As they film take after take of a seemingly innocuous on screen dance sequence, the two characters start to fall in love, and it is this rather sweet and incredibly moving and powerful sequence that gives the movie it's heart, for as well as being a clever homage to the visual tricks of Hollywood, it is, in fact a simple and beguiling love story, that is well worth watching
9/10