You can hardly claim it was a surprise result, because for weeks - what do I say, months - it had been rumoured The Artist named as a surefire Oscar favourite. Yet the crowning achievement of this largely silent French black-and-white film that pays tribute to the end of the silent film era in Hollywood is proof that originality still counts in the American stronghold often worn for conservative.
The Artist is not only a delightfully charming film, but also one that has been brought to an outstanding conclusion with panache, sophistication and, above all, guts. Also, the fact that The Artist in so many ways a unique maverick that could not really be compared to any of its competitors will have played a role. At Cannes, it still seemed hopeless because a comedy is more or less excluded from the Golden Palm - some believe - but that has now been doubly rectified.
En passant took The Artist also immediately took home the Oscars for best director, best actor, best costume design and best music more. Yet there was still one film that scored five Academy Awards, and that was Martin Scorsese's 3D fairytale Hugo, about the little boy who lives behind the clock at Paris station. Also Hugo pays tribute to film history, especially to the pioneer of fantastic cinema Georges Meliès. A bit sad for Scorsese, though, is that those five Awards (photography, set design, sound editing and mixing and visual effects) are almost all sort of consolation Oscars.
A pity was that the always incredibly good, but perhaps under-acting Michelle Williams (My Week With Marilyn) the actress Oscar went to Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady) saw going. Because we now know that Streep is also very good.
In the best non-English language film category, I was worried for a while that crowd pleaser Monsieur Lazhar (Rotterdam Audience Award) was going to take the crown, but luckily it still ended up being the Iranian divorce drama and last year's Golden Bear winner directed with grim incisiveness A Separation. Not a startling, but deserved choice.
Leo Bankersen
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