Jean Dujardin and BÃ©rÃ©nice Bejo in âThe Artist.â  All season long Michel Hazanavicius and Bérénice Bejo, the husband-and-wife writer-director and star of “The Artist,” have been recording their adventures on the awards circuit, whipping out their smartphone or digicorder at each ceremony and red carpet. It’s a memento for their kids, to show what mom and dad have been up to for the last few months. Well, the family is going to have a whopper of a home movie after Sunday if, as expected, “The Artist” wins best picture, and Mr. Hazanavicius, best director, at the Oscars.  Who will take home an Oscar this year? Start your ballot below with the Best Picture category.  Nomineesâ¦ The Artist The Descendants Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close The Help Hugo Midnight in Paris Moneyball The Tree of Life War Horse  Octavia Spencer (left) and Viola Davis in âThe Help.â  George Clooney in âThe Descendants.â  Jeremy Irvine in âWar Horse."  Billy Crystal, the host of this year's Academy Awards.  “The Artist,” the black-and-white largely silent film that’s a tribute to cinema’s first golden age, has been the burnished front-runner for an eon, or at least what passes for one in Hollywood terms. It has had awards buzz since its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May, which is perhaps why Harvey Weinstein snapped it up just before, when Mr. Hazanavicius and his team were still editing it. Of all the movies that the Weinstein Company (or its predecessor, Miramax) has brought to Academy Awards glory — and that’s a substantial list — “The Artist” may have a rare distinction: Mr. Weinstein, a cutting-room meddler, didn’t change anything. “The great thing that Harvey said is that, ‘This movie has one huge problem: I don’t know where to cut it,’ ” Thomas Langmann, a producer of the film, boasted about an early negotiation.  Still, Mr. Langmann and Mr. Hazanavicius, veterans of the French film industry, were not blind to Mr. Weinstein’s reputation. “Not only did we know Harvey has a reputation,” Mr. Langmann said, “but we thought he had a terrible reputation.” They asked that it be written into their contract that no changes could be made. “His people first said we will never sign this to you, because we never do it,” Mr. Langmann recalled. “And Harvey came and said he will sign it, for the first time.”  There are other firsts about “The Artist.” It would be the first (nearly) silent film to win an Oscar in more than 80 years, and among the first with a French pedigree, though it was shot on location in Los Angeles (which Mr. Weinstein made sure to highlight around Hollywood). But its widespread support among Academy voters — the best picture winner is built on consensus, after all — has not contributed to a sense of excitement about Oscar night.  “I don’t think it’s a strong best pic field this year,” a voting member of the Academy said this week. A longtime industry insider added that, if “The Artist” were not the heavy favorite, “there would probably be a write-in candidate” for the top prize, because the other contenders are too flawed. It was, according to the insider’s e-mail, Oscar’s “worst year EVER.”  A bit of hyperbole perhaps, but audiences have not turned out for these movies in big numbers. Of the best picture nominees only “The Help” could be called a box office hit, grossing almost $170 million so far (though ticket sales for “The Artist” have begun to pick up slightly, to just over $28 million domestically). Shrinking viewer interest — in the films that the Academy celebrates, and in the Oscars — is exactly the kind of problem that the expanded best picture category was meant to fix. Three years in it’s still unclear if it’s working.  The producers of the Oscars telecast, Brian Grazer and Don Mischer, are pulling out all the stops to telegraph that the show will offer broad entertainment: they hired Billy Crystal to host; lined up a slew of comedic names, from Tina Fey and Will Ferrell to Zach Galifianakis, as presenters; and even called in a circus, the Cirque du Soleil. (The cast of “Bridesmaids” will be there too. With a bit of tweaking the night could make for a good “Hangover”-“Bridesmaids” crossover sequel. Mr. Galifianakis could easily fit an acrobat in a carryall.)  As a cultural event the Oscars thrive on prestige, celebrity gloss, emotion and surprise. With cinematic heavyweights like Martin Scorsese accounted for — and Woody Allen and Terrence Malick in the conversation, if not in the room — and star wattage from George, Brad and Meryl, cachet and glamour should be easy gets. And despite the piling on of the Oscar punditocracy — I’ve added my predictions to the mix — there are some hard-to-forecast races, so there will still be some emotional speeches on Oscar night. And there are always surprises.  The other force around the Oscars is nostalgia, which the Academy has played up this year with its advertising campaign and theme (“celebrate the movies in all of us”). That sense of throwback was handily matched by the best picture hopefuls, only one of which (“The Descendants”) is actually set in the present day. For all their pomp — or perhaps because of their pomp — the Oscars are fundamentally a vaudeville-type, shticky event, a bit of razzle-dazzle and self-congratulation presided over by a tightly selected group of old white men, as The Los Angeles Times enumerated in its survey of the Academy membership this week.  Like my colleague A. O. Scott I believe that Mr. Crystal is therefore a perfect host for the show, happy to poke a little fun but mostly eager to please. The Oscars cannot be approached ironically (although James Franco certainly tried). They should be presented as what they are, an artifact of a less culturally divisive time, with the wry commentary left to audiences in the comfort of their living rooms, or at least on Twitter. Viewed that way the Academy Awards are like a communal version of the in-jokes and warm fuzzies you get watching home movies. Those people from “The Artist” really are on to something.
With just a few days to go, âThe Artistâ is the front-runner for best picture and best director at the Academy Awards ceremony on Sunday.