It is the height of silent era Hollywood and aspiring starlet, Peppy Miller (Bejo), gets her big break when a chance photograph taken with the world’s biggest movie star, George Valentin (Dujardin), ends up on the cover of Variety.
Set against a backdrop of a Tinseltown in transition from silent film to talkies, a whimsical love story emerges between the two as her star soars and his star fades.
Reaching beyond what is quintessentially a romantic comedy, The Artist is a deftly penned love letter to a bygone age in Hollywood and American cinema. This black-and-white film is (almost) silent, shot entirely on location in Los Angeles and peppered with seamless winks to classics of the silent era and beyond including Citizen Kane, Singing in the Rain and The Apartment. Spot-on production design, score and cinematography lovingly recreate a 1920s Hollywood somewhere between legend and reality.
The relatively little known principle actors ooze charm and an infectious sense of mischievous fun, whilst holding genuine emotional sway in the film’s more solemn moments. Leading man Jean Dujardin was awarded the best actor prize at Cannes 2011, and more major accolades for the film are likely on the horizon as the 2012 awards season approaches.