Which 2011 film was the first mostly silent film to win Best Picture since Wings? The Artist was.
Directed by Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist is a black-and-white French-Belgian film set in Hollywood between 1927 and 1932. Its story follows silent-film star George Valentin as talking pictures rise, alongside aspiring actress Peppy Miller, played by Bérénice Bejo.
The film deliberately imitates silent-cinema style through intertitles, expressive acting, a 4:3 image ratio, and an orchestral score. It is not completely silent: a brief spoken scene and a dream sequence use sound, which is why “mostly silent” or “essentially silent” is more accurate than “silent.”
At the 84th Academy Awards, The Artist won five Oscars from ten nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director for Hazanavicius, and Best Actor for Jean Dujardin. It followed Wings, the 1927 film that won the inaugural Best Picture award, then called Outstanding Picture. The Artist also became the first mainly silent winner in more than eight decades.