The Artist

          The film “The Artist” written and directed by Mitchel Hazanavicus, is about a silent film actor who refuses to change and talk when dialogue becomes a part of movies. Silent is all he knows, and it’s very hard on him.  He goes inward and isolates himself from the rest of the world until he is forced to once again join the new world of sound and even though he agrees to change, accept the new, and join his friends again, it still is very hard for him. 

            Mitchel Hazanavicius was inspired by a story he heard from Jean-Claude Grumberg about an actor whose job was at risk, when movies became popular for having speaking parts. Mitchel loved silent movies, so he began fantasizing about silent films and wondering how he could create one. He decided to tell the story he remembered. In silent film form and knew his movie had to have very few characters.  He did lots of research on 1920’s to 1930’s movies. He wrote the parts for actors he liked and believed could play the roles perfectly without fail.  He developed the support from Hollywood, and once everyone heard he was doing a silent film people came in swarms to help him.  Since it was a silent film, the actors really didn’t have lines. They couldn’t feel the characters through the lines. So Hazanavicius chose to play music on the set and actors felt the mood of the scene through music and played their parts by the feel of the music. 

            The critics must love the movie since so far it has been nominated for at least fifty-four awards and has won as many as thirty of those. At the Golden Globes it won Best Picture, Best Score, and best performance by Jean Dujardin.  From the Screen Actors Guild the star Jean Dujardin won for an outstanding performance.  Everyone agrees that the film is a great hit and loved by many. The plot is clear, and the actors did a great job.

            Hazanavicius’s research of this genre made me realize that a silent melodrama must be difficult to make because it must be a simple story with a few characters.  Also the music is so necessary to keep the action going and maintain the mood. 

            The film shows that even today with all our technology a silent film can still be a success as a motion picture that everyone loves and wants to go see.  The interview with Hazanavicius by Emanuel Levy helped me appreciate and understand “The Artist”. 

Informational help, http://www.emanuelley.com/interview/46501