I'm playing a little catch up here. I saw this movie just before heading into the Xmas break. This is a black and white silent movie and I was curious about it because it's gotten amazing reviews. I loved it! Without words (there aren't even a lot of intertitle cards) the movie becomes all about visuals and music, making it almost more akin to opera than a typical movie. The facial expressions of the actors are so much more important and this movie has two great acting faces. The basic story is of the "A Star is Born" variety, where a big movie star of the silent era crashes into the dawn of talkies and is unable or unwilling to adapt while a young upstart gets a few lucky breaks and becomes a huge star. The two main stars are French actors unknown to us in the US. In addition to the expressiveness of the actors faces, the movie uses movement in all kinds of ways to tell the story (movement of the actors across the scene, or of the camera around the action).
This is one of those movies that I don't think will work as well in a private home on your own TV. It is critical to see this movie in a theatre where the sound can truly surround you, as well as with an audience where the shared reactions can become part of the 'sound environment' contributing to the movie.
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