’I won't talk! I won't say a word!’ Contextualising Michel Hazanavicius’s The Artist (original) (raw)

Michel Hazanavicius’ 2011 silent masterpiece The Artist not only pays homage to the Silent Era of Hollywood cinema, it also provides a complex commentary on key themes such as of loss, despair, love and death. While the character of George Valentin may be stereotypical of the 1920s matinee idol, he also symbolises the decline of an era as his career is sabotaged by the onset of new sound technology and the growing popularity of the “Talkie”. George fears that the birth of sound will inevitably result in the death of art—“I am an Artist!” This paper aims to contextualise The Artist in relation to the key themes as well as analysing Hazanavicius’ incorporation of American cinematic references, not only his references to the classic silent films of Douglas Fairbanks and John Gilbert but also to the work of Alfred Hitchcock (Vertigo) and Orson Welles (Citizen Kane), and the art house cinematic style of Twentieth Century European filmmaking.