French director Michel Hazanavicius’s silent movie The Artist topped nominations Thursday for the US’s Golden Globes Awards with six nominations. It has been nominated for categories including best comedy or music film, best comedy or music actor, best supporting actress, and best director.

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The Artist, starring Jean Dujardin and Bérénice Bejo, has been a surprise hit at festivals and in cinemas, despite being a silent move in black and white.

It was nominated for best film and best director by the New York Film Critics Circle two weeks ago.

Dujardin, a well-known comic actor in France, won best actor award at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, where the film premiered.

The film, which had a mixed cast and crew of both French and US nationality, was made in Los Angeles and is a love story set against the background of the replacement of silent cinema by the talkies.

Other results included: The Help, about black servants in pre-civil rights southern US, and The Descendants, starring George Clooney, tied for second place with five nominations each;

Clooney-directed political drama The Ides of March, Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris and Moneyball, starring Brad Pitt. won four;

TV top nominees were HBO series Boardwalk Empire, NBC's 30 Rock and Fox's Glee.

The Help won the most nominations – four - on Wednesday for the Screen Actors’ Guild awards, which along with the Globes are seen as a key indicator to success in the Oscars.

Read Laura Angela Bagnetto's review of The Artist.

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