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A French film has never before won an Oscar for Best Picture. A French male has never won Best Actor.

Last night "The Artist" won both, in what became a clean-up night for the French film industry at the annual red carpet gala in America's Tinseltown.

The black-and-white silent film 鈥� a throwback to a Hollywood golden age 鈥� took five statuettes in all, topping 鈥淭he Descendants鈥� for Best Picture.

The popular actor Jean Dujardin 鈥� a former locksmith known mainly here for his low-budget comedic spy spoofs and expressive eyebrows 鈥� edged out George Clooney and Brad Pitt for Best Actor. And relative unknown Michael Hazanavicius topped big names like Martin Scorsese for Best Director.

France also showed its enduring capacity for 鈥渟oft power鈥� through the arts, as films like the fantasy special-effects 鈥�Hugo,鈥� set in a Paris train station, also won five Oscars. Woody Allen鈥檚 鈥�Midnight in Paris鈥� was a Best Picture nominee.

鈥淭hey must be going nuts in France right now,鈥� quipped Oscar host Billy Crystal after actor Tom Cruise opened the envelope at the end of the evening to announce that 鈥淭he Artist鈥� took the coveted Best Picture prize.

French TV journalists reporting live from Hollywood were slightly beside themselves after the best picture win, throwing their hands over their faces and repeating 鈥減henomenal!鈥� and 鈥�incroyable!鈥�

But at 5:30 am here 鈥� there鈥檚 a nine-hour time difference between Paris and LA 鈥� there was no discernible Oscar noise, at least on the residential streets.

Instead, French woke to newspapers and media hailing the evening as historic. 鈥淣ever has a French film won so many US honors,鈥� wrote Le Monde.

A good run for Europe

Oscar-wise, it's been a good run for Europe. The British film 鈥淭he King鈥檚 Speech鈥� swept top honors last year, including Best Picture and Best Actor (Colin Firth), for a period depiction of the trials of Britain鈥檚 King George VI in surmounting a speech impediment on the eve of World War II.

In "The Artist" Mr. Dujardin plays George Valentin, a silent star with a pencil-thin mustache who can鈥檛 or won鈥檛 make the transition to talkies, goes into a funk, but is saved by his adorable dog and a woman he generously helped when he was riding high in the early 1920s.

The French actor learned to tap dance for the Valentin part, and says his favorite American actor is Paul Newman. In last night鈥檚 acceptance comments, Dujardin said Douglas Fairbanks also was an inspiration.

鈥淚 haven鈥檛 seen 'The Artist' yet. I guess I鈥檓 going to go now,鈥� said one manager of a caf茅 near the Radio France complex in Paris, who gave his name as Fran莽ois.

Ironically Dujardin did not win at the Cesars, France's equivalent of the Academy Awards, handed out two days earlier. Paris Match commented wryly that a prophet is never accepted in his own country, and said it took the Oscars to give Dujardin due fame.

Mr. Clooney is a favorite in France and Europe and for a time was a frequent visitor in Paris. He appears as himself in a popular ever-present French coffee advert, saying the name of the coffee and asking coolly, 鈥淲hat else?鈥� This morning, online media showed Clooney, and next to the words 鈥渨hat else?鈥� gave the name, 鈥淛ean Dujardin!鈥�

A rare Oscar sweep by France

French cinema and filmmakers are famed for innovating styles like avant garde, film noir, art nouveau, and cin茅ma v茅rit茅. France鈥檚 Marion Cotillard won an Oscar for Best Actress in 2008 for her depiction of singer Edith Piaf in La Vie en Rose; Roman Polanski was the first Frenchman to earn Best Director when he won in 2003.

But French silver-screen offerings have never broken through with the kind of sweep seen in this year's Oscars.

The city of Paris also proved last night its ongoing imaginative hold. Mr. Scorsese's 鈥淗ugo鈥� centers on an orphan living in a Paris train station who manages to preserve the creations of French cinema pioneer Georges M茅li猫s. 鈥淢idnight in Paris鈥� is Mr. Allen鈥檚 wry tribute to the bittersweet era of, among others, Ernest Hemingway and the Lost Generation on the Left Bank. It stars Owen Wilson and Ms. Cotillard and has a cameo by Carla Bruni, wife of French president Nicolas Sarkozy.

(Mr. Sarkozy, who faces reelection this spring, issued a post-awards statement commending the 鈥渟pecial vitality of French cinema.鈥�)

Even Steven Spielberg's 鈥�War Horse鈥� is set partly in the frighteningly chaotic Franco-European battlefields of World War I.聽