Line #67 Film/TheArtist


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5	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/artist_still_poster_3_500x760.jpg]]
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7	->''"I won't talk! I won't say a word!"''
8
9	''The Artist'' is a 2011 French film emulating the style of cinema in the [[TheRoaringTwenties 1920s]] written and directed by Creator/MichelHazanavicius and produced by Thomas Langmann.
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11	The movie stars Creator/JeanDujardin as George Valentin, a silent movie star in 1920s Hollywood whose career goes into decline with the Great Depression and the advent of talking pictures. He falls in love with a young ingenue named Peppy Miller, played by Creator/BereniceBejo, whose Hollywood career arc is the exact opposite of Valentin's. Creator/JohnGoodman appears as Al Zimmer, the studio producer who tries to convince George to get over himself and make a talking film.
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13	''The Artist'' is unique not just for being shot in black-and-white, and in the old 4:3 AspectRatio, but being an almost completely '''silent film''', possibly the first feature-length SilentMovie to receive wide distribution since Creator/MelBrooks put out ''Film/SilentMovie'' in 1976.
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15	Compare ''Film/{{Blancanieves}}'', a Spanish movie released in 2012 that was similar, being a silent, black-and-white film in {{Retraux}} style set in the 1920s.
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17	----
18	!!''The Artist'' provides examples of:
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20	* AlmostKiss: Happens once between Peppy and George. What's amazing is that they don't kiss even once in the film, despite being the OfficialCouple. This is, of course, a throwback to NoHuggingNoKissing rules enforced by censors back in those days.
21	* AndStarring:
22	** "And Uggie -- The Dog" in the closing credits. Really. (Uggie also gets an additional EasterEgg mention in the credits to one of Peppy's films.) Uggie even attended the Oscars.
23	** Also used in-universe as the sign that Peppy has made it big and continues to climb up the ladder.
24	* ArtisticLicenseChemistry: The standard film stock of that time was nitrate, which is extremely flammable ([[TaughtByTelevision see]] ''Film/InglouriousBasterds''). So when George sets his film on fire, it should have erupted into an unsurvivable mass of flames in seconds, though it ''does'' reach near-lethal proportions very quickly.
25	* AscendedFangirl: Peppy is an InUniverse example, having caught the attention of the press by inadvertently getting on the other side of a police man blocking George's fans from him. Throughout the film it is very clear that she is a huge fan of George's movies, even going so far as to [[spoiler:attend the opening night showing of ''his'' movie rather than her own]].
26	* AspectRatio: ''The Artist'' was shot in 4:3 aspect ratio. 4:3 was standard for all of Hollywood from the dawn of moviemaking, until widescreen caught on in the 1950s.
27	* AteHisGun: [[spoiler:Just barely averted for George!]]
28	* AttentionWhore:
29	** Constance, George's costar, is ''livid'' when he keeps forcing her off the stage at the first film showing.
30	** Peppy is a bit of this too, both when she first runs into George, and later when stardom briefly goes to her head.
31	* AwfulWeddedLife: Doris. She and George can't stand each other.
32	* BaitAndSwitchGunshot: BANG!
33	* BeardOfSorrow: 1920's-style. George's mustache is still groomed, but it's not impeccably waxed like in his big-screen days.
34	* BenevolentBoss:
35	** John Goodman's studio exec, who was obviously hoping to help George make the transition to sound films until he gets stubborn about it. [[spoiler:Later, he wholeheartedly endorses the idea of giving George a comeback bid as a dancer, albeit only after Peppy blackmails him into it.]]
36	** George [[CruelToBeKind letting Clifton go]], realizing that he'll just continue to work in lieu of pay (which George can't afford).
37	** Technically applies to Peppy, since she [[spoiler:subsequently hires Clifton]].
38	* BoxOfficeBomb: ''Tears of Love'', in-universe.
39	* BreakTheCutie: George gets crushed by his refusal to transition to talkies, in a somewhat uncommon gender-reversal of this.
40	* TheCameo
41	** Creator/MalcolmMcDowell as one of Peppy's fellow extras. (Despite this he gets a major billing, something the actor has poked fun at in interviews.)
42	** Creator/ElizabethTulloch as Norma, George's female co-star in his last silent film.
43	** [[{{Series/Coach}} Bill]] [[WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants Fagerbakke]] as a police officer near the end.
44	* CanineCompanion: George even takes his dog to the movies. And it saves his life... twice. He even showed up in the real-life Oscars ceremony!
45	* CareerResurrection: In-universe. [[spoiler:George seems to get one at the end of the film, apparently as a dancer in the vein of Fred Astaire.]]
46	* CallBack: In the final tap-dancing scene, Peppy does her little step-dance that got George's attention at the start of the movie and effectively made her career.
47	* ChekhovsGun: George's stuff getting sold at auction.
48	* ChekhovsSkill:
49	** The Black Bottom Dance that George and Peppy do behind a scene curtain. There are several hints throughout the film that George is a born [[GlamorousWartimeSinger song and dance man]].
50	** The dog's ability to play dead whenever a gun is fired.
51	* CouldntFindAPen: Peppy's lipstick on George's mirror, and again when she gives him her phone number.
52	* {{Corpsing}}: InUniverse, Peppy and George's first interaction, when she's still an extra and they can't keep straight faces in a dance scene.
53	* CreatorBreakdown: In-universe, George suffers one of these after the jump to talkies and the failure of his silent films trashes his career.
54	* CreatorKiller: In-universe. The EpicFail of ''Tears of Love'', as well as his reluctance to adapt to sound films, destroys George's movie career.
55	* CruelToBeKind: When Clifton won't take the hint and quit [[spoiler:after George has been too broke to pay him for a year, George coldly tells him he's fired, throws him out the door and leaves him standing on the porch all day.]]
56	* DanceOfRomance: During the filming of ''[[FilmWithinAFilm A German Affair]]''.
57	* DartboardOfHate: Doris enjoys doodling over George's photographs. Trouble in paradise?
58	* DecadeThemedFilter: The film completely evoked the film styles of the late 1920s from the intertitles to the aspect ratio.
59	* DeliberatelyMonochrome: Better to invoke the style of movie the film is paying homage to.
60	* DistinguishingMark: Peppy's trademark mole, although it's artificial (it was also George's idea, as she needed something to make her stand out from other actresses). It's even the name of one of her films -- the one that really hammers home George's downfall.
61	* DominoMask: George's screen persona.
62	* DreamSequence: With a unique effect to get the unreality across when the lead character starts experiencing synchronized sound around him in ever more exaggerated forms while he is still silent.
63	* DownerEnding:
64	** Don't worry! It's in-universe! The ending to the FilmWithinAFilm ''Tears of Love'' ends with [[TheHeroDies George's character sinking into quicksand]], and telling the female co-star that he never loved her.
65	** Though for those who interpret ''The Artist'' as a metaphor for those who reject new technologies such as e-books and downloads, the ending in which [[spoiler:George finally becomes a convert]] could be seen as a downer too. (See the Earn Your Happy Ending entry below.)
66	* DrivesLikeCrazy: There's a reason Peppy needs a chauffeur.
67	* DrowningMySorrows: Poor George.
68	* DutchAngle: Used in the scene where a drunk, depressed George sets fire to the negatives of his old movies, possibly another homage to period techniques. [[spoiler:It's also seen during George's, well, "noisy" nightmare.]]
69	* DyingDeclarationOfLove: Subverted by George's character at the end of ''Tears of Love''.
70	-->"Farewell, Norma. I never loved you!"
71	* EarnYourHappyEnding: It takes a lot of convincing from Peppy, who is determined to help him, but she shows George that he has a future in sound films as a star of [[spoiler:dance musicals]].
72	* ElectricTorture: Complete with TortureTechnician and MadScientist in the first FilmWithinAFilm.
73	* EndOfAnAge: The film set during the twilight of silent cinema and the emergence of sound films.
74	* EnvironmentalSymbolism:
75	** George walking beneath a marquee reading, "''The Lonely Star''".
76	** An unhinged picture frame in the bar George gets sloshed in.
77	** George catching Peppy in his dressing room, in front of a poster for the film ''The Thief of Her Heart''.
78	** Peppy starring in a film called ''Guardian Angel''.
79	** When the studio cancels George's contract and hires Peppy, the two meet on a stairwell. He is heading down the stairs while she's heading up, mirroring the trajectories of their careers.
80	** During a montage of the Valentins' unhappy marriage, a pair of spouse statues appear to separate from each other with each scene of George and Doris interspersed until the only the wife statue behind Doris is visible.
81	** The final dance scene is for a film called ''Sparkle of Love''.
82	* EurekaMoment: When Peppy finally figures out how to help George.
83	* FascinatingEyebrow: During the ''German Affair'' shoot, George keeps deploying this in take after take.
84	* TheFlapper: Peppy is one -- and plays one!
85	* FiveSecondForeshadowing: [[spoiler: George and Peppy are audibly panting after their dance routine at the end, hinting it's no longer a silent film and now a talkie.]]
86	* FlippingTheBird: George's co-star when he hogs the limelight from her during a film premiere.
87	* {{Foreshadowing}}:
88	** During the first ShowWithinAShow, George's character is being tortured, being commanded "SPEAK!" He refuses to speak, just like he later refuses to speak on any film.
89	** After being released from his contract with the studio, George meets Peppy in a stairwell. After their brief conversation, he walks down the stairs while she walks up. As the movie unfolds, George's career is on a downward trajectory, while Peppy is on her way up.
90	** During one point when George is seemingly at his lowest point, he passes by a poster for Peppy's new film ''Guardian Angel''. Peppy ends up taking on this role for George, determined to help him set up a comeback.
91	* GenkiGirl: Peppy. It's even in the [[MeaningfulName name]].
92	* GenreThrowback: The film is deliberately stylized to look like a late '20s {{melodrama}} and, later, a [[spoiler:1930s musical in the final scene]].
93	* GoneHorriblyRight: Peppy's beauty spot, which triggers her rise and George's fall. The onset of talkies doesn't help matters at all.
94	* GrayRainOfDepression:
95	** After George's film ''Tears of Love'' bombs.
96	** Also, quite fitting to the time when news of [[TheGreatDepression the Stock Market Crash]] reached Los Angeles. So, [[GreyRainOfDepression Grey Rain of]] [[TheGreatDepression Great Depression]]?
97	* GracefulLoser: While George does not take his sinking career well, he never shows any anger towards Peppy's rise to stardom.
98	* HandsOnApproach: George and Peppy dancing together in a scene. At first, the pair erupt into some harmless laughter. With each take, though...
99	* HeroicDog: Mostly entertaining but definitely becomes heroic considering a played-straight TimmyInAWell moment. Later he tries desperately to dissuade George from his suicide attempt -- it almost seems to be working at first, but [[spoiler:ultimately it's Peppy who stops him]].
100	* HoistByHisOwnPetard: George helps Peppy make it big, which hastens his own downfall.
101	* HollywoodCalifornia: Shot on location in buildings authentic to the time period. Peppy's mansion is Mary Pickford's mansion, and George wakes up in Pickford's bed. Ironically, of the 2012 Best Picture Oscar nominees, ''The Artist'' was the only one completely filmed in Hollywood. Even though it's a French film.
102	* HypercompetentSidekick: Valentin's dog.
103	* InterruptedSuicide: Bang!
104	* IrisOut: Another nod to silent cinema.
105	* ItsAllJunk: Although on second thought burning the items may have been a bad choice for other reasons.
106	* ItWillNeverCatchOn: What George believes about talkie films.
107	* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: The studio executive, Al Zimmer. He's willing to give George another chance, but George finds talkies idiotic and passes it up. Later, he effectively gives George a ''third'' and ''fourth'' chance [[spoiler:first when Peppy convinces him to give George a part in a movie, and then when Peppy and George convince Al to make a musical.]]
108	* JobTitle
109	* JumpScare: [[spoiler:At the end of George's DreamSequence, a small feather is seen drifting lazily to the ground, with no other sounds playing... and it lands with the sound of a ten-ton weight. This is what [[CatapultNightmare wakes George up.]]]]
110	* LargeAndInCharge: John Goodman's studio boss.
111	* LargeHam:
112	** George in front of an audience.
113	** His costar, Constance Grey, is seen [[BadBadActing hamming it up to a painful extent]] when she's playing Juliet in a talkie.
114	** Peppy, most definitely, though endearingly so.
115	* LaughingMad: George setting his reels on fire.
116	* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: Repeatedly, starting with the first title card, which is the page quote.
117	* LivingShadow: Possibly related to a PinkElephants type moment.
118	* MadeOfIncendium: {{Inverted}}. When George burns the film reels, they take quite a while to get a good blaze going. However, since film of that era really ''was'' made of incendium (a.k.a. nitrate), it should have turned into a massive fire in seconds. Nitrate films (made prior to the introduction of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellulose_acetate_film Cellulose Triacetate (safety) film]] in 1948) had to be stored in thick-walled concrete bunkers because they were so flammable. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TEgrdAlofk This video]] shows some examples in its first 2 1/2 minutes, and an even more spectacular example starting at 4:25. Safety film is non-flammable. Get it hot enough and it will melt, but it won't burn, as [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilCW4xT8Xl4 this video]] shows.
119	* ManicPixieDreamGirl: Peppy Miller
120	* MeaningfulBackgroundEvent: The movie names, all over the place.
121	* MediumAwareness: George's DreamSequence -- he's visibly shocked when events around him come with sound effects.
122	* MeetCute: How Peppy accidentally strikes off her career.
123	* MirrorMonologue: George has an argument with his shadow projected against a wall.
124	* MonkeyMoralityPose: Appropriately enough, stubborn George has a "three monkeys" statue.
125	%%MonochromeCasting is the subject of an edit war. Please don't add it until the discussion has been resolved.
126	* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: [[spoiler:When George jolts back to his senses after burning his precious films and realizes he might have also destroyed his precious raw footage of dancing with Peppy.]]
127	* MyGodYouAreSerious: [[spoiler:Clifton, you're fired.]]
128	* NoAntagonist: The real problem is George's refusal to change with the times, and his downfall as a result. Al Zimmer is somewhat depicted as the antagonist, since his firing of George sets him on his downward spiral.
129	* NoHeroToHisValet: Valentin actually is, apparently, a hero to his valet, but he is both a jerk to his costar and a neglectful husband.
130	* NoNameGiven: George's dog is listed in the credits as "The Dog".
131	* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: At the beginning of the movie, Valentin's character is locked in a cell very securely. The movie cuts to the audience reaction as they gasp at his escape and then the movie cuts back to him out of the cell.
132	* OldRetainer: Clifton. By choice, though.
133	* PetTheDog: A literal example. George's devotion to his adorable dog indicates right from the start that he's a good guy at heart.
134	* PinkElephants: While getting hammered in a bar George hallucinates a tiny vision of himself (and some of the African supporting players) from the FilmWithinAFilm ''Tears of Love''.
135	* {{Pornstache}}: George's pencil mustache is eventually replaced by this.
136	* {{Postmodernism}}:
137	** This film establishes very clear boundaries for its medium, then breaks them. [[spoiler:Specifically, the scene in this otherwise silent movie that begins with George audibly placing his glass on the dresser, and then the entire scene spiraling out of control as he learns everything makes sound BUT him. It is, of course, a nightmare, but still. The end also violates the boundaries of silent film, indicating George's acceptance of talkies.]]
138	** In addition, the way George is shown [[spoiler:putting the gun in his mouth]] is another modern-day touch that would never be seen in a film of the era.
139	** Peppy's "dialogue" scene with Al in which [[spoiler:she says "it's either him or me" and then sputters though a few "what I meant to says" is a dialogue trope more common to modern-day cinema in part because silent films could not rely on such wordplay.]]
140	** Constance gives George "[[FlippingTheBird the finger]]" early on in the film, an act that would not have been allowed in American cinema of the day. ([[Film/{{Speedy}} Except for that one time when it was!]]) As noted below, lip-readers may also detect the F-word as well; there is a longstanding Hollywood legend that many actors did swear on screen during the silent era, assuming no-one could read their lips.
141	* PrecisionFStrike: A visual one: George's leading lady gives him [[FlippingTheBird the finger]]. It also serves as a clue to the audience that this film won't [[DarkerAndEdgier quite behave]] like an old silent-movie. Though if you pay attention to her lips, you can see she's also a silent ClusterFBomb...
142	* {{Pride}}: George's biggest fault. Clifton even warns him against it when Peppy wants to give him another chance.
143	* PunnyName: Peppy Miller, after "pepper mill", a pepper grinder.
144	* QuicksandSucks: The ending to George's movie ''Tears of Love'', complete with a LastGraspAtLife.
145	* RageAgainstTheReflection: George tipping his drink over his reflection in a table.
146	* RealitySubtext: In-universe, the final scene of ''Tears of Love'' where George's character sinks in quicksand.
147	* {{Retraux}}: The whole film, really; not just a silent film but a silent film made to actually look like a movie from the silent film era.
148	* RichesToRags: George starts the film as a wealthy movie star and is brought low in stages: first the coming of sound and his failed attempt to continue the silent era, then the stock market crash, and finally his alcoholism and other bad decisions.
149	* TheRoaringTwenties: First part takes place at the end of it, and the arrival of TheGreatDepression kicks off Valentin's downfall.
150	* RuleOfCute: George toting his dog everywhere, including into a movie theater.
151	* RuleOfSymbolism:
152	** The crooked frame in the bar where George gets smashed.
153	** Also note that whenever there's a staircase in the movie, Peppy will no doubt be going up whilst George will only go down.
154	* RunningGag: The dog plays dead whenever someone makes a motion like shooting a gun.
155	* ShoutOut:
156	** The score includes quite a lengthy sample of the love theme from, of all movies, ''Film/{{Vertigo}}''. George's nightmare about sound is also very Hitchcock-esque.
157	** The old movie that George watches on a home projector just before his breakdown is an actual silent movie, ''Film/{{The Mark of Zorro\|1920}}'', with Jean Dujardin inserted in close-ups in place of Creator/DouglasFairbanks. In fact, George's whole on-screen persona, as present in the Films Within the Film, pretty strongly resembles Fairbanks.
158	** The solution to Valentin's career problems is straight out of ''Film/SinginInTheRain''. The basic plot of the film is also similar to that film, and the character of Constance in particular is very reminiscent of Jean Hagen's Lina Lamont in the earlier film.
159	** Valentin's very name is a ShoutOut to [[http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0884388/ Rudolph Valentino]], arguably the first and most famous silent movie star of the twenties.
160	** Valentin's career problems mirror those of romantic silent film star Creator/JohnGilbert, who drank himself to death when his career tanked after the transition to talkies. George eventually becomes an expy of [[spoiler:Creator/FredAstaire]] (complete with a set straight out of one of his films!), and bears a strong physical resemblance to Creator/ClarkGable.
161	** Valentin's defiant effort to make a silent film with his own money with the rise of sound films is similar to Creator/CharlieChaplin's stubborn efforts in making the largely silent films, ''Film/CityLights'' and ''Film/ModernTimes'', but Charlie's films were big hits. George... not so much.
162	** The policeman running to [[spoiler:save George's life from his self-inflicted fire]] is reminiscent of the next-to-last scene of ''Film/The400Blows''
163	** Peppy gives a shout-out to Creator/GretaGarbo's famous line in the 1932 film ''Film/GrandHotel'' by telling her date, "I want to be alone."
164	** George and Doris' simmering hostility at the dinner table recalls the same between Kane and his first wife in ''Film/CitizenKane''. The TrashTheSet scene may also be a ''Citizen Kane'' reference.
165	* ShowWithinAShow:
166	** We see a number of George's and Peppy's films.
167	** And, of course, [[spoiler:the closing number]].
168	* SilenceIsGolden: Used to very great effect -- [[spoiler:three scenes total use sound, and they're all jarring]]. A couple of scenes are completely silent, with no music.
169	* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Peppy's first "big" role has her name misspelled as "Pepi".
170	* SpinningPaper: Done as Peppy rises to the top of stardom.
171	* SpiritualAntithesis: To ''Film/SinginInTheRain''. Both movies take place in '20s era Hollywood during the time when studios were making a shift to "talkies". While ''Singin'' was a light-hearted movie about a studio's attempt to adapt to these changes, ''The Artist'' is a darker movie, showing what happened to the actors who couldn't make the jump from Silent Films to films with sound.
172	* StalkerWithACrush: Peppy is a benevolent one towards George.
173	* StylisticSuck: Subverted. ''Tears of Love'' is set-up to be a terrible movie in the hands of a seeming PrimaDonnaDirector like George... but it comes off as a surprisingly competent, powerful film. It doesn't stop the crowds from going to see the talkies instead.
174	* SuddenlySpeaking: [[spoiler:The ending.]] Also doubles up as SuddenlyEthnicity, [[spoiler:because George's accent reveals he's French]].
175	* TakeThat: In-universe, ''Tears of Love'' is a thinly veiled rebuke to Peppy's success.
176	* TimmyInAWell: Played straight, even if the policeman in question is skeptical at first.
177	* TrampledUnderfoot: George's poster, in the aftermath of ''Tears of Love'' bombing in theaters.
178	* TrashTheSet: George [[ItsAllJunk destroying his projector and film collection]].
179	* UndyingLoyalty: Clifton refuses to leave George even after George can't afford to pay him, and ultimately lets George move in with him.
180	* UnsoundEffect: A TitleCard reading "Bang!"
181	* VisualTitleDrop: In a newspaper headline that quotes George as saying "I'm an artist."
182	* WhamLine: [[spoiler: "Cut!"]]
183	* WhenSheSmiles: {{Invoked\|Trope}} with Peppy's screen persona.
184	* {{White Dwarf Star\|let}}: George in the second half of the movie.
185	* WholePlotReference:
186	** The premise is more than a little bit similar to the first two incarnations of ''Film/{{A Star Is Born\|1937}}''.
187	** ''Film/SinginInTheRain'' is virtually a spiritual predecessor regarding the transition to talkies, though focused as a character piece on the emotional trials of the time period.
188	** Charlie Chaplin's ''Film/{{Limelight}}'' (though happier).
189	* {{Wipe}}: Another effect from the silent era.
190	* WomenDrivers: Brakes? Telephone poles ''are'' Peppy's brakes!

Context Film / TheArtist