It is not often that a French movie creates a buzz in Oscar circles in Hollywood, but you can trust film producer Harvey Weinstein to recognize a worthy contender when he sees it and to turn it into a multiple nominee. His company bought the rights to 'The Artist' for the American market before it even premiered in Cannes this year to critical acclaim, and will release it in November right on time for the Oscar race. It probably helps that 'The Artist', which pays tribute to the Hollywood movies from the late 1920s, has been filmed as a silent movie! Liberated from the language barrier, the film has already proven to be a crowd pleaser in Toronto and San Sebastian, and one has to recognize that indeed it is a wonderful piece of work on every level.

Directed by Michel Hazanavicius and staring Jean Dujardin and Bérénice Bejo, the film follows the downfall of a Douglas Fairbanks' look-alike George Valentin, a Hollywood superstar whose popularity begins to wane with the arrival of talking cinema in the late 1920s, just as that of young ingenue, Peppy Miller rises.

Audacious, touching, witty, visually stunning and beautiful crafted, 'The Artist' is also wonderfully acted. Dujardin, who took this year's Best Actor honours at Cannes, may still be unknown in the US but he is already a huge star in France where he is famous, notably for his part over many years in a daily TV sketch comedy show as well as in Hazanavicius' series of spy spoofs OSS 117.

The supporting cast includes several English-speaking actors such as John Goodman, James Cromwell, Penelope Ann Miller and Malcolm McDowell, as well as an amazing canine performer named Uggy.

Modern day audiences are somehow reluctant to watch black-and-white silent movies but with this love letter to a forgotten art, Hazanavicius is showing the world that you sometimes do not need spoken dialogues to carry emotions or visual effects to entertain moviegoers. It is still too early to know what chance 'The Artist' has of winning an Academy Award, but there is little doubt in my mind that it will capture the heart of people all around the globe.

Lead image © 2011 The Weinstein Company

Why not feel in shape from the very first ski day this year? Have you ever wished you were in better shape when you hit the slopes on a beautiful ski day? Almost any skier has, according ... >> READ MORE

How to win the mind game of golf in the port of Nice The International Club of the Riviera in association with Events by George! and Galerie Oscar in Nice have pleasure ... >> READ MORE

10 Reasons to Fall in Love with San Francisco One can fall in love with a city. It happened to me some 14 years ago. I came to San Francisco as a law student to do a 9-month internship and ended up staying ... >> READ MORE