The Artist (film)
Encyclopedia
The Artist is a 2011 French romance film directed by Michel Hazanavicius, starring Jean Dujardin
and Bérénice Bejo
. The story takes place in Hollywood between 1927 and 1932 and focuses on a declining male film star and a rising actress, as silent cinema
grows out of fashion and is replaced by the talkies
. The film is itself a silent film and in black-and-white. Dujardin won the Best Actor Award
at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival
, where the film premiered.
and OSS 117: Lost in Rio, producers started to express interest. The forming of the film's narrative started with Hazanavicius' desire to work again with actors Jean Dujardin
and Bérénice Bejo
, Hazanivicius's wife, who had starred in the OSS 117 films. Hazanavicius chose the form of the melodrama
, mostly because he thought many of the films from the silent era which have aged best are melodramas. He did extensive research about 1920s Hollywood, and studied silent films to find the right techniques to make the story comprehensible without having to use too many intertitles. The screenplay took four months to write.
The film was produced by La Petite Reine and ARP Sélection for 13.47 million euro, including co-production support from Studio 37 and France 3 Cinéma
, and pre-sales investment from Canal+
and CinéCinéma. Both the cast and crew were mixed French and American.
Filming took place during seven weeks on location in Los Angeles. Throughout the shoot Hazanavicius played music from classic Hollywood films while the actors performed.
Only one song (sung, with lyrics) is used in the soundtrack, "Pennies from Heaven
," sung by Rose "Chi-Chi" Murphy (uncredited).
. It was initially announced as an out of competition entry, but was moved to the competition a week before the festival opened. The French regular release was on 12 October 2011 through Warner Bros. France
. The Weinstein Company
bought the distribution rights for the United States, United Kingdom and Australia. The film was released in the United States on 25 November 2011.
called the film "a real pleasure"; "propelled elegantly forward by delightful performances from Jean Dujardin and Bérénice Bejo it is the most unlikely of feel-good movies." He added however: "The film does feel a little sluggish towards the end of the first third as the music is a little repetitive and the intertitles are infrequent, but Hazanavicius manages to give the film a real sense of charm and warmth, and film fans will be competing to spot visual and musical references."
Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian
described how the film "had me on my feet cheering throughout the final credits" and stated "I can't wait to see it again".
Geoffrey McNab at The Independent
called the film "both a surefire crowdpleaser and a magnificent piece of film-making" in his 5 star review from the Cannes Film Festival
.
Daniel Sarath at New In Cinema described the the film as "easily one of the best films of the year" and called it a "roaring and creative crowd-pleaser that will inspire laughter, joy and cheer".
Dujardin won the Cannes Film Festival's Best Actor Award
for his performance. The dog actor in the film, Uggy, won the Palm Dog Award
for best performance by a canine at the festival.
The Artist won the Official Selection Audience Award at the 2011 Leeds International Film Festival
and has been nominated for the Best Film award at the 2011 European Film Awards.
On 29 November, 2011, the film won the Best Picture award from the New York Film Critic's Circle, with Hazanavicius picking up the Best Director prize.
Jean Dujardin
-Life and career:Dujardin was born in Rueil-Malmaison. Dujardin first became famous on the French talent show Graines de star in 1996 as part of the comedy group Nous C Nous, formed by members of the Carré blanc theater. From 1999 to 2003 he starred in the French version of the comedy television...
and Bérénice Bejo
Bérénice Bejo
Bérénice Bejo is a French actress, known for her role of Christiana in the 2001 film, A Knight's Tale.Bejo was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina to Argentine filmmaker Miguel Bejo. At age 3, she moved to France where she started her acting career...
. The story takes place in Hollywood between 1927 and 1932 and focuses on a declining male film star and a rising actress, as silent cinema
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...
grows out of fashion and is replaced by the talkies
Sound film
A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decades would pass before sound motion pictures were made commercially...
. The film is itself a silent film and in black-and-white. Dujardin won the Best Actor Award
Best Actor Award (Cannes Film Festival)
The Best Actor Award is an award presented at the Cannes Film Festival. It is chosen by the jury from the 'official section' of movies at the festival. It was first awarded in 1946.- Award Winners :-External links:* * ....
at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival
2011 Cannes Film Festival
The 64th annual Cannes Film Festival was held from May 11 to May 22, 2011. American actor Robert De Niro served as the president of the jury for the main competition and French filmmaker Michel Gondry headed the jury for the short film competition...
, where the film premiered.
Cast
- Jean DujardinJean Dujardin-Life and career:Dujardin was born in Rueil-Malmaison. Dujardin first became famous on the French talent show Graines de star in 1996 as part of the comedy group Nous C Nous, formed by members of the Carré blanc theater. From 1999 to 2003 he starred in the French version of the comedy television...
as George Valentin - Bérénice BejoBérénice BejoBérénice Bejo is a French actress, known for her role of Christiana in the 2001 film, A Knight's Tale.Bejo was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina to Argentine filmmaker Miguel Bejo. At age 3, she moved to France where she started her acting career...
as Peppy Miller - John GoodmanJohn GoodmanJohn Stephen Goodman is an American film, television, and stage actor. He is best known for his role as Dan Conner on the television series Roseanne for which he won a Best Actor Golden Globe Award in 1993, and for appearances in the films of the Coen brothers, with prominent roles in Raising...
as Al Zimmer - James CromwellJames CromwellJames Oliver Cromwell is an American film and television actor. Some of his more notable roles are in Babe , for which he earned Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor, Star Trek: First Contact , L.A...
as Clifton - Missi PyleMissi PyleAndrea Kay "Missi" Pyle is an American actress and singer. She has appeared in several films, including Galaxy Quest, Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, Big Fish, 50 First Dates, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay...
as Constance - Penelope Ann MillerPenelope Ann MillerPenelope Ann Miller , sometimes credited as Penelope Miller, is an American actress...
as Doris - Malcolm McDowellMalcolm McDowellMalcolm McDowell is an English actor with a career spanning over forty years.McDowell is principally known for his roles in the controversial films If...., O Lucky Man!, A Clockwork Orange and Caligula...
as The Butler - Bitsie TullochBitsie TullochElizabeth Tulloch is an American actress.-Early life and education:Tulloch was born in San Diego, California but grew up in Spain, Uruguay, and Argentina. Bitsie isn't a contraction of Tulloch's birthname, Elizabeth, but an homage to her unusually-nicknamed grandfather, a WWII bomber pilot...
as Norma - Beth GrantBeth GrantBeth Grant is an American actress. She is known for often playing characters who are conservatives, religious zealots or sticklers for rules....
as Peppy's Maid - Nina SiemaszkoNina SiemaszkoNina Siemaszko is an American film and television actress.-Biography:Siemaszko was born Antonina Jadwiga Siemaszko in Chicago, Illinois to a Polish American father, a fighter in the Polish Underground who survived the Sachsenhausen concentration camp and an English mother...
as Admiring Woman - Basil HoffmanBasil HoffmanBasil Hoffman is an American actor. He has had a film and TV career spanning five decades mostly in supporting roles. He has starred in films with many award-winning directors, including Alan Pakula and Robert Redford...
as Auctioneer - Ben KurlandBen KurlandBenjamin David Kurland is an American actor. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts to parents Jim and Robyne Kurland. He and his older brother Zack Kurland grew up in Newton, Massachusetts....
as Casting Assistant
Production
Director Michel Hazanavicius had been fantasizing about making a silent film for many years, both because many filmmakers he admires emerged in the silent era, and because of the image-driven nature of the format. According to Hazanavicius his wish to make a silent film was at first not taken seriously, but after the financial success of his spy-film pastiches OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of SpiesOSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies
OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies is a French film directed by Michel Hazanavicius. It is a parody of the spy film genre. The film follows the exploits of a French secret agent, OSS 117, in Cairo in 1955.-Plot:...
and OSS 117: Lost in Rio, producers started to express interest. The forming of the film's narrative started with Hazanavicius' desire to work again with actors Jean Dujardin
Jean Dujardin
-Life and career:Dujardin was born in Rueil-Malmaison. Dujardin first became famous on the French talent show Graines de star in 1996 as part of the comedy group Nous C Nous, formed by members of the Carré blanc theater. From 1999 to 2003 he starred in the French version of the comedy television...
and Bérénice Bejo
Bérénice Bejo
Bérénice Bejo is a French actress, known for her role of Christiana in the 2001 film, A Knight's Tale.Bejo was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina to Argentine filmmaker Miguel Bejo. At age 3, she moved to France where she started her acting career...
, Hazanivicius's wife, who had starred in the OSS 117 films. Hazanavicius chose the form of the melodrama
Melodrama
The term melodrama refers to a dramatic work that exaggerates plot and characters in order to appeal to the emotions. It may also refer to the genre which includes such works, or to language, behavior, or events which resemble them...
, mostly because he thought many of the films from the silent era which have aged best are melodramas. He did extensive research about 1920s Hollywood, and studied silent films to find the right techniques to make the story comprehensible without having to use too many intertitles. The screenplay took four months to write.
The film was produced by La Petite Reine and ARP Sélection for 13.47 million euro, including co-production support from Studio 37 and France 3 Cinéma
France 3
France 3 is the second largest French public television channel and part of the France Télévisions group, which also includes France 2, France 4, France 5, and France Ô....
, and pre-sales investment from Canal+
Canal+
Canal+ is a French premium pay television channel launched in 1984. It is 80% owned by the Canal+ Group, which in turn is owned by Vivendi SA. The channel broadcasts several kinds of programming, mostly encrypted...
and CinéCinéma. Both the cast and crew were mixed French and American.
Filming took place during seven weeks on location in Los Angeles. Throughout the shoot Hazanavicius played music from classic Hollywood films while the actors performed.
Only one song (sung, with lyrics) is used in the soundtrack, "Pennies from Heaven
Pennies from Heaven (song)
"Pennies from Heaven" is a 1936 American popular song with music by Arthur Johnston and words by Johnny Burke. It was introduced by Bing Crosby in the 1936 film of the same name...
," sung by Rose "Chi-Chi" Murphy (uncredited).
Release
The film premiered on 15 May in competition at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival2011 Cannes Film Festival
The 64th annual Cannes Film Festival was held from May 11 to May 22, 2011. American actor Robert De Niro served as the president of the jury for the main competition and French filmmaker Michel Gondry headed the jury for the short film competition...
. It was initially announced as an out of competition entry, but was moved to the competition a week before the festival opened. The French regular release was on 12 October 2011 through Warner Bros. France
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
. The Weinstein Company
The Weinstein Company
The Weinstein Company is an American film studio founded by Bob and Harvey Weinstein in 2005 after the brothers left the then-Disney-owned Miramax Films, which they had co-founded in 1979...
bought the distribution rights for the United States, United Kingdom and Australia. The film was released in the United States on 25 November 2011.
Reception
Mark Adams of Screen DailyScreen International
Screen International is a multimedia film magazine covering the international film business. It is published by EMAP, a British b2b media company.The magazine is primarily aimed at those involved in the global movie business...
called the film "a real pleasure"; "propelled elegantly forward by delightful performances from Jean Dujardin and Bérénice Bejo it is the most unlikely of feel-good movies." He added however: "The film does feel a little sluggish towards the end of the first third as the music is a little repetitive and the intertitles are infrequent, but Hazanavicius manages to give the film a real sense of charm and warmth, and film fans will be competing to spot visual and musical references."
Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
described how the film "had me on my feet cheering throughout the final credits" and stated "I can't wait to see it again".
Geoffrey McNab at The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
called the film "both a surefire crowdpleaser and a magnificent piece of film-making" in his 5 star review from the Cannes Film Festival
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...
.
Daniel Sarath at New In Cinema described the the film as "easily one of the best films of the year" and called it a "roaring and creative crowd-pleaser that will inspire laughter, joy and cheer".
Dujardin won the Cannes Film Festival's Best Actor Award
Best Actor Award (Cannes Film Festival)
The Best Actor Award is an award presented at the Cannes Film Festival. It is chosen by the jury from the 'official section' of movies at the festival. It was first awarded in 1946.- Award Winners :-External links:* * ....
for his performance. The dog actor in the film, Uggy, won the Palm Dog Award
Palm Dog Award
The Palm Dog Award is a yearly alternative award presented by the international film critics during the Cannes Film Festival. Begun in 2001 by Toby Rose, , Ammu Kannampilly, October 22, 2007, retrieved on May 27, 2009 it is awarded to the best performance by a canine or group of canines during...
for best performance by a canine at the festival.
The Artist won the Official Selection Audience Award at the 2011 Leeds International Film Festival
Leeds International Film Festival
The Leeds International Film Festival is the largest film festival in England outside London. Held in November at various venues throughout Leeds, West Yorkshire it shows over 200 films from around the world, commercial and independent....
and has been nominated for the Best Film award at the 2011 European Film Awards.
On 29 November, 2011, the film won the Best Picture award from the New York Film Critic's Circle, with Hazanavicius picking up the Best Director prize.