The Artist

• The performance of the Dujardin-Bejo duo in this playful homage to 1920s Hollywood classics, blending expressionism, pantomime, and tap dancing, reminds us of just how much, as director Peter Brook used to say, 'the body has ideas'.

• Ludovic Bource's rousing music, the brio of the performances and Guillaume Schiffman's luminous black and white cinematography help draw spectators in. "We didn't need dialogue. We had faces!" Gloria Swanson (playing an old silent era diva) famously proclaimed in Sunset Boulevard. Watching The Artist, we know exactly what she means.

• Here is one of the most entertaining films in many a moon, a film that charms because of its story, its performances and because of the sly way it plays with being silent and black and white. "The Artist" knows you're aware it's silent and kids you about it. Not that it's entirely silent, of course; like all silent films were, it's accompanied by music.

• Both Dujardin and Bejo are acting one way, mugging theatrically, for the film within a film, and in quite another fashion, perfectly naturally, when the camera stops. The difference is vast, and yet entirely achieved without the benefit of words – it’s a fascinating lesson in mute performance.

• The undeniably charming presence radiating from the lead actor's face, displaying consummate skill, the antics of his dog—an equally delightful and extraordinary performer in the film—and the fresh, spontaneous beauty of his equally gifted co-star quickly make you forget that you are watching a story told without spoken words and without color.

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