Artist, The **** (PG-13)

Winner of multiple awards from the St. Louis Film Critics Assn., including Best Movie, Director, Supporting Actress and Screenplay for 2011.

Mark Glass | Dec 23, 2011, 1:16 p.m.

Artist, The (PG-13) Winner of multiple awards from the St. Louis Film Critics Assn., including Best Movie, Director, Supporting Actress and Screenplay for 2011.

Those among you who avoid foreign films because they hate reading subtitles have no excuse for ducking this French dramedy because it’s a new silent movie about Hollywood’s transition in the late 1920s - ‘30s from the silents to the talkies. Since the cast isn’t uttering any lines, there’s nothing on the bottom for you to read. The star, Jean Dujardin, is best known here for his OSS 117 spy spoofs, hamming it up as a smug French superspy who thinks he’s James Bond, while bumbling through his life of danger and intrigue more like an Inspector Clouseau. The first was brilliant; the second started seeming like one trip to the well too many, as the novelty factor wore thin.

In the first, more comical, half of this film, the story unfolds like a variation on Singin’ in the Rain, with Dujardin as a Gene Kelly clone, visually emoting to extremes in romantic potboiler adventures, making him a Valentino-esque idol. But the megastar adamantly refuses to change with the times. To him, speaking on camera denigrates the craft. The perky ingenue he discovers, brilliantly played by Berenice Bejo, skyrockets to stardom in the new generation of movies, while he descends into poverty and despair. His wife leaves; his producer (homegrown John Goodman) gives him the boot; fortunately, his faithful dog and former co-star (an homage the Thin Man series’ beloved Asta) sticks by his master.

As a satiric, whimsical comedy, the film is amazingly entertaining - especially since it’s almost entirely in black & white, with no dialog. My only complaint is that the latter half dwells too long in the melodrama of Dujardin’s depressing slide before bouncing back with a rousing finale. There are a handful of stunningly hilarious and touching scenes along the way, making this a uniquely delightful treat for film buffs, and one of the more innovative movies of recent memory. (12/23/11)