‘Annette’ Review: Strangeness as a Strength, and a Weakness
Much of the talk coming out of Cannes this year surrounded a handful of movies that took major creative risks, some of which were more successful than others, but stood out in a highly risk-averse world. One of the buzziest was Annette, a rock-opera directed by French filmmaker Leos Carax in his English language debut, with music from the pop-duo Sparks. Carax has a reputation for wild, creative, and bizarre films like his most famous work, Holy Motors, and Annette is similarly unto itself.
The film follows Henry (Adam Driver), a self-hating comedian/provocateur who could be thought of as something like an evil Bo Burnham, who falls for superstar opera singer Ann (Marion Cotillard). Their whirlwind romance leads to a marriage and a child, Annette, after which their relationship is thrown into turmoil by Henry’s failing career. The story from there goes through various soap-opera type turns full of explosive emotions, dark twists, and strange vignettes, with all the characters’ various sins coming to bite them in the end. It is generally compelling, but not particularly special, and is a bit messy at times given how it takes some odd turns and how fast everything rips along. What makes Annette unique, however, is its execution.
Firstly the film is technically a musical, but unlike most musicals, where the lyrics are about emotions and are often more metaphorical, the lyrics here are often descriptive, telling the audience what is literally going on in the scene and what the characters are thinking about. This type of writing is more in line with the conventions of opera (or so I’ve been told; I don’t actually give a shit about opera), so I guess the rock/soap opera designation fits. The music is also different from the standard Hollywood style, with less focus on melody and a lot more repetition and rhythmic talk-singing.
What really makes the movie a fascinating watch, though, is its style. It is both surrealist and winkingly self-referential. Much of the movie takes place in a kind of liminal space, where what is happening on screen is both literally happening, but also happening inside the minds of the characters. It is a truly surreal film, with the entirety of the action inhabiting a world that is both real and dream at the same time at all times. The film also makes a big deal about its own artificiality. The sets are very clearly sets, the special effects are clearly fake, Annette is a puppet, and they make no attempt to hide any of this. The movie begins with a song about how the movie is about to begin and it ends with a song about how the movie is ending, asking you to recommend it to your friends if you liked it. Even the Sparks brothers show up throughout as various background characters. However because everything is clearly fake, the movie is free from any pretensions to reality, and is able to put together many incredibly striking and beautiful visual sequences, all while being able to comment upon itself and its content. It also helps that the movie never really takes itself too seriously.
Annette is a wild ride, brought to life with a lot of creativity, style, and visual splendor. As exhilarating as it can be, it is also pretty bumpy and a bit all over the place. A lot of people are probably going to hate it, writing it off as too weird without really thinking about why it is that way, but it’s their loss. It’s no masterpiece by any means, but it is definitely worth checking out.
