Jean Dujardin makes self-importance funny through the way a man carries himself, then lets the confidence falter without losing our sympathy. We value him most when his broad physical comedy leaves room for hurt.
Fi1m perspective
In The Artist (2011), Jean Dujardin’s George Valentin poses as though being watched were the natural condition of life. We enjoy his vanity because Dujardin makes George’s pleasure in himself so plain. When his confidence falters, the change in the way he carries himself matters. We felt protective of George because the same actor who had made his self-importance funny now made his uncertainty difficult to watch. Dujardin lets us care about him without pretending his pride is harmless.
The broad comedy came first, in films including Brice de Nice (2005) and Michel Hazanavicius’s spy parody OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies (2006). Dujardin was already an established comic presence before The Artist brought him international recognition. Hazanavicius gives that physical expressiveness room in both parody and silent-film storytelling. We would not treat the earlier comedy as something he had to outgrow. George’s expansive posing is part of what makes the later performance work.
Bérénice Bejo matters to The Artist, too: the warmth and mischief they bring to the romance give us a welcome break from George’s self-regard. Our reservation is with the film’s middle, which spends too long on his wounded pride. Dujardin’s charm keeps him from becoming tiresome company, though it cannot make the story move faster. The performance remains clear without making every feeling simple.
His English-language work includes Jean Jacques Saurel in Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), a supporting part in a comedy we recommend despite its repetition. There is little reason to judge the rest of his work by how much of it is in English. Dujardin went on to concentrate chiefly on French cinema, alternating comedy and drama in a stretch that includes November (2022). For an evening spent discovering what he can do, start with The Artist and allow a little patience for its slow middle.
Biography
Jean Edmond Dujardin (born 19 June 1972) is a French actor and comedian. He began his career performing stand-up comedy in Paris and appeared in television variety shows before gaining prominence in the popular series Un gars, une fille (1999–2003).
He achieved success in French cinema with comedies including The Brice Man (2005), OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies (2006) and its sequel OSS 117: Lost in Rio (2009). Dujardin received international acclaim for his performance as George Valentin in the silent film The Artist (2011), winning the Academy Award for Best Actor, the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role and the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor.
He later appeared in English-language films such as Martin Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), in which he played Jean Jacques Saurel, and George Clooney's The Monuments Men (2014).
