For Your Consideration

Imagine going to a movie showing where the ambient sounds of the theater — ceiling fans whispering overhead and audience members' occasional coughs a few rows down — are louder than the movie itself. Occasionally, the musical score will fill the room with energy, but other than that, it's silent.

Although it's been a while since the silent movie was the Hollywood standard, Michel Hazanavicius's recent film "The Artist" is bringing audiences back to the motion picture industry's days of yore. The movie represents the silent film genre so well, in fact, that it's up for several Academy Awards.

While watching the film, it becomes clear "The Artist" wasn't made for the plot, nor was it made for a star-studded cast list (though John Goodman provides a recognizable face as an early-Hollywood movie producer).

"The Artist" was clearly made for the art of cinema itself. The 100-minute sans-sound, sans-color effort is a nod to an earlier era of movie making, when special effects meant a fog machine and sound was an orchestral score.

Showing at the Wilma, "The Artist" follows the silent movie star George Valentin (Jean DuJardin) as Hollywood begins to turn to movies with sound ("talkies") at the end of the 1920s. A classic tale of "out with the old and in with the new," Valentin experiences a triple-whammy — losing his wife, losing his money and losing his fame — as the movie industry makes way for actors and actresses of a different breed. Berenice Bejo provides both a love interest and a rising star for Valentin to compete with as young, popular actress Peppy Miller.

About 20 minutes after the movie begins, the lack of chatter starts to sink in, except the dialogue is still there — in the actors' exaggerated expressions as they interact on screen. Instead, the harmony between the visuals and the score is celebrated.

The silent film calls for an entirely different breed of acting. Without a constant stream of words to convey characters' thoughts and emotions, facial expressions and body language have to make up the difference. This is well executed by DuJardin and Bejo, as well as Goodman for that matter.

The film's musical score lends a hand as well. It's the classic silent film music: When the characters are sad, the music is somber, and when something's suspicious, the music tells the viewer. The score is just as synchronized with the plot as any character dialogue would be in a "talkie."

Without the novelty of the silent-film genre, "The Artist" would be a mediocre film at best. With it, however, it's an interesting and entertaining peek at the roots of the movie industry itself.

Catch it any evening at the Wilma, where there are both 7 and 9 p.m. showings. Tickets are sold at the theater for $7.50.