Persian Realm

This year’s Cannes Film Festival has been overshadowed by the recent scandal surrounding former IMF and French Presidential contender Dominique Strauss Kahn’s rape accusations.

Hence not much enthusiasm filtered in the French medias regarding this year's selection other than the mixed reception of Terrance Malik’s latest film Tree of Life, praise for Sean Penn’s performance as the bored retired Rock Star turned Nazi Hunter in This Must be the Place or Lars Von Trier banned by Cannes Organizers after his confused comments during the press conference for his film Melancholia during which he expressed empathy for Hitler hence dooming his chances for the Palme D’Or.

However the Festival did offer a wonderful surpise for movie buffs in an otherwise particularly boring film selection this year. Michel Hazanavicius's The Artist, added to the Cannes competition at the last minute, is both a surefire crowd pleaser and a magnificent piece of film-making.Whatever else, this is also surely the most enjoyable contender for the Palme d'Or if not the Grand Jury Prize this year.

It's a silent movie set in the Hollywood of the late 1920s. The story of a Douglas Fairbanks-like movie star (Jean Dujardin) fallen on hard times, it evokes memories of everything from A Star Is Born to Citizen Kane, from Scott Fitzgerald's Pat Hobby Stories to Kenneth Anger's Hollywood Babylon and even Charlie Chaplin's Limelight. French director Hazanavicius (best known for spy spoof OSS 117) isn't the first film-maker in recent years to make a silent movie but he is doing it on a far grander scale than any of his predecessors.

As the film begins, George Valentin (Dujardin) is at the top of his game. Fans swoon over his every public appearance. He is a dashing and charming figure with a sense of mischief. He is accompanied everywhere by his pet mutt (a Jack Russell which looks a very likely winner of the annual Palm Dog award for best canine performance in Cannes). By chance, he meets an up-and-coming starlet called Peppy Miller (Bérénice Bejo). Inspired by the real life love story between Silent Era Stars John Gilbert and Greta Garbo of the torid 1926 classic Flesh and the Devil.

Official Trailer of “The Artist” (2011)

Directed by Michel Hazanavicius and Starring Jean Dujardin, John Goodman, James Cromwell and Bérénice Béjo

Plot:

Hollywood, 1927: As silent movie star George Valentin wonders if the arrival of talking pictures will cause him tofade into oblivion, he sparks with Peppy Miller, a young dancer set for a big break.

‘The Artist’ Cast and Crew Walk Up Cannes Red Carpet:

(NOTE: To Watch Double Click Here )

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Some Cannes Predictions

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Best Director: Terrance Malik for Tree of Life,

Palme D’Or:ex aequo Terrance Malik for Tree of Life and Michel Hazanavicius “The Artist”,

Best Actor: Sean Penn in This Must be the Place or Jean Dujardin for “The Artist”,

Best Actress : Tilda Swinton in We Need to Talk to Kevin,

Jury Prize: Michel Hazanavicius “The Artist”

Another noticeable film/director /crew which may be awarded in similar or different categories:

Radu Mihaileanu’s ‘The Source ‘a comedy/drama set in a village in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco and centered on a battle of the sexes, where women threaten to withhold sexual favors if their men refuse to fetch water from a remote well.

Complete List of Films in Competition: Here

May the Best Win !

VIVE LE CINEMA !

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Official Selection of the 64th Cannes Film Festival Announced