Silent movie “The Artist” crowned its spectacular awards season success by winning five Oscars including the coveted Best Picture prize at the 84th Academy Awards on Sunday.

The French-directed black-and-white movie earned Oscars for best director for Michel Hazanavicius and best actor for Jean Dujardin, who played a silent movie era star whose career was torpedoed by the arrival of the “talkies.” “I love your country,” Dujardin told the Hollywood audience as he accepted his Oscar, the first for a French actor, for his role as silent movie star George Valentin, whose career is torpedoed by the arrival of the “talkies.”After thanking the film’s cast and crew — adding to “my wife, I love you”— he broke into French, using an expletive and then saying, “Great! Thank youvery much!” — Text by AFP, video by Reuters.