09/06/12…’Best Picture’ Oscar winner concludes season at Thame Cinema
***NOW (07/06)less than 10 tickets left for 8pm the artist, plenty at 5pm screening ***
SATURDAY, June 9, 2012 – Thame Cinema 4 All presents: The Artist – France / Rest of the World 2011, 100 minutes, PG certificate, Directed by Michel Hazanavicius, Starring Jean Dujardin, Berenice Bejo, James Cromwell and John Goodman.
We end this season with the most delightful film of the last year, perhaps even the last decade ? at the very least, it is a rare example of a Best Picture Oscar going to something that really was the best picture by a considerable margin. Hazanavicius? gem pays homage to the silent era of cinema with a moving and heartwarming love story set against the backdrop of the advent of the talkies. Dujardin is handsome and preening, funny, self effacing and vulnerable as George Valentin, clearly intended to be a Valentino or a Douglas Fairbanks, swooningly popular and a powerful player with his studio.
However, George is reluctant to admit that talking pictures are the way of the future, and his stubborn refusal to go with the flow means his career looks ready to crash and burn. Meanwhile he encounters ambitious rising star Peppy Miller, whose charm, looks and vivacity mean she is on the brink of megastardom. In a series of hilarious re-takes of a crowded dance-floor scene, they notice each other, sparks fly and an enduring attraction begins, although it is not until much later that their feelings are made known to each other.
References to A Star is Born are striking, and there are sufficiently numerous nods to cinema of the past to make the film a cineaste?s dream. But The Artist is an absolute winner even without an encyclopaedic knowledge of movie trivia. By situating the narrative at the last gasp of silent movies, we are encouraged to reflect on what makes movies so mesmerising ? the beauty of the black and white cinematic screen reminds us that this artform is first and foremost about looking, and we are invited to consider what was lost when we came to rely on increasingly complex soundtracks. It shows that image and orchestral accompaniment are more than up to the task of conveying complexities such as crises of masculinity and the folly of pride, and of rendering utterly believable sentiments such as loyalty, pathos, love and longing. Oh, and the dog is fabulous.
If you?re not moved to tears / rapturous applause at the end, well… get the person sitting next to you to check for a pulse.
(ps ? you may have heard of certain philistines at some cinemas asking for their money back when they found out that the film was silent – you have been warned, and refunds will only be considered if you leave in an ambulance!)
