A silent film hasn’t won the Oscar for best picture since Wings took the top prize at the very first ceremony in 1929. A year later, the talkies had taken hold, and it’s fair to say they have dominated the awards ever since.
But now, for the first time in more than 80 years, a silent movie is being talked up as a real Oscars contender.
The Artist is a French film, but set in Hollywood at the end of the silent era, and shot like one of the very best films from that time. That means it’s black-and-white, it uses the squarer “Academy Ratio” frame rather than widescreen and, yes, it’s silent. It’s a beguiling, A Star Is Born/Singin’ in the Rain story of two lovers whose paths and careers cross — a leading man from the silent days falls down on his luck, while a young flapper named Peppy makes it big in talking pictures.
But although The Artist is self-conscious about being a silent film, it’s not just a novelty; it’s a funny, beautifully made romance, and it’s not so much of a surprise that it is being released in a prime position for awards season. In fact, The Artist has already won some big prizes — including best actor at Cannes for its suave lead, Jean Dujardin, and the same festival’s unofficial Palm Dog trophy for Uggy, its scene-stealing terrier.
If you still don’t believe such a retro movie could get the Oscar nominations, or even the audiences, the critics expect it to, so you may be in for a shock. Hollywood is nostalgic for the early 20th century at the moment. Woody Allen’s latest, Midnight in Paris, was a declaration of love for the 1920s. Martin Scorsese is at it too, with the prohibition-era TV series Boardwalk Empire and his new film Hugo, a 3D adventure for children, which features early French director Georges Méliès and his magical trick films. Pedro Almodovar has even said that he considered making The Skin I Live In as a silent film.
Of course, it’s not the end of the road for the talkies, but The Artist is about to remind us of what we lost when synchronised sound came in — and we haven’t heard the last of silent cinema. —