Characters/Actors: George Valentin (Jean Dujardin), Berenice Bejo (Peppy Miller), Al Zimmer (John Goodman), James Cromwell, Penelope Miller, Malcolm McDowell, etc.
In the late twenties, George Valentin, a popular and personable silent film actor's fortunes and life begin to decline with the advent of talkies (non-silent films). At about the same time, an aptly named extra named Peppy Miller's life and popularity quickly soar into the stratosphere as a true movie star. Valentin also has a comical Jack Russell terrier who once appeared in films with him. Valentin and Miller meet and really hit it off. He even tries to get her work on one of his films, to the chagrin of his pompous director (John "Barton Fink" Goodman). As Valentin goes nearly broke he descends into chain smoking, heavy drinking, and suicidal behavior. Meanwhile, Peppy Miller becomes the toast of Hollywood and appears on the cover of many magazines in addition to being a popular actress. Although there is a great difference in the age of Valentin and Miller, they end up falling in love, and the younger of the two saves the elder's life and possibly career. Although this movie was 99% silent and with minimal dialogue, this is arguably the best movie of the year. As a matter of fact, it won the Palm D'or award for Best Picture at the Cannes Film Festival. This movie really impressed me, but the question remains, will American audiences go for a mostly silent film in a time of futuristic video-game influenced cinema? As for myself, I may want to see this movie again in the very near future.
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