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  Manisha Lakhe

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At last, we are going to be able to see what the rest of the world is going ga-ga over. The black and white silent movie that is about a movie star from the silent era who is unable to face the fact that it is time for the talkies and that he has to either adapt or be face ignominy. He’s proud and will not accept change, and even though the young and upcoming star loves him and will do anything …

At last, we are going to be able to see what the rest of the world is going ga-ga over. The black and white silent movie that is about a movie star from the silent era who is unable to face the fact that it is time for the talkies and that he has to either adapt or be face ignominy. He’s proud and will not accept change, and even though the young and upcoming star loves him and will do anything to resurrect his career, he is unable to bend and accept charity.

Sounds terribly like our Black and White classic Kaagaz Ke Phool starring Guru Dutt and Waheeda Rahman? Down to the scene where she insists that she will work in the movies only if he is a part of the the movie deal.



Why The Artist is so beguiling is because the lead actor Dujardin has such an expressive brow. He raises it as a question mark, a comma, a semi-colon as well as an exclamation mark. This is not an easy task to fulfill. But he has the crinkles around his eyes to help, And the brightest of smiles (perhaps that is the reason this movie is in Black and White) that makes you smile back at him. The heroine - slim, long-legged and wide-eyed - is a perfect foil to his big presence on screen. The little dog makes for a wonderful contrast to the larger than life image of the hero.



There is a tongue-in-cheek treatment of the screenplay which is fun: He’s a silent screen actor who refuses to speak, so the whole movie is silent and we read title cards for dialogue that is rather easy to infer.

The production design is stupendous. They capture each nuance of the life in the late twenties, down to the doorknobs and the mirrors on the wall. The sequence on the staircase in the studios, where the hero is on his way down and the heroine on her way up, literally and figuratively. These are but two from several scenes that manage to make you stare at the screen with unabashed admiration. I did.