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fame, marriage, morality, movie reviews, movies, pride, quotes, relationships, silent movies, The Artist
We just returned from a matinee viewing of “The Artist.” We thoroughly enjoyed it although it is unquestionably a niche film. If you don’t know about the project it is basically a silent movie about the silent movie industry in the late 1920′s. Imagine “Singing in the Rain” meets “Lassie” with just a small but healthy dose of nihilism. Was that clear enough? More detail? OK.
George Valentin is a giant in the entertainment industry when silent movies were king. But “talkies” are beginning to make inroads and this actor refuses to make the change. At the same time a young actress that George “discovered” is quickly becoming the rising star in the world of talking films. As a relationship between these two “Hollywoodland” icons (which barely got started) becomes progressively strained the more they attempt to reach out to one another the more unreachable they become. I don’t want to give too much more information as to spoil your possible viewing. I will admit that it starts rather slowly and does begin to build. Clearly it is a bit unique to engage with a film with very little sound other than the music (which is excellent, by the way).
Aside from the story there are some very important themes. Proverbs 16: 18 says, “Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.” If nothing else, “The Artist” addresses this theme in some pretty powerful ways. We vicariously reflect on how multi-faceted that “destruction” can be. We will also be forced to think about love, money, relationships, power, loyalty, inability to change, the fleeting nature of fame, and priorities.
Unfortunately, the one marriage depicted in the story is already on life support. While there is no physically adulterous relationship, a single “stolen” kiss speaks volumes. One of the more telling lines is when George’s wife says to him, in tears, “I’m unhappy.” To which he stoically responds, “so are millions of us,” while his dog sits contentedly on his lap.
One of the more compelling aspects of this movie is the relationship between George and his dog. If there is a constant in the film it is this canine star. This seems to be George’s one connection to what matters even when everything ceases to.
This is not a film for everybody. But I do think it is an important one both from a cinematic and worldview perspective.
Hmmm! This is the second film you have reviewed that I think I would like to see. I guess I need to invest in a DVD player. Movie theaters are not for me.
I must admit to being a bit of a movie buff–although not nearly what I used to be. I do try to choose the movies that I think will have a significant amount of redeeming value. A great deal of my movie connections have to do with my daughter who really loves movies, so we attend together and have some pretty good conversations about them.