Annette

Leos Carax’s first feature since Holy Motors is based on a musical performance idea by Ron and Russell Mael, the founders of the band, Sparks. The film is delivered almost entirely in song, and follows the courtship and marriage of Ann, a highly accomplished opera singer and Henry, a confrontational and brooding comedian, who is equally successful. Initially, the couple are the darlings of the press until cracks begin to appear and as Ann’s star burns brighter and Henry’s begins to wane, their relationship becomes increasingly unstable. The film then takes a more fantastical turn in production and narrative when they have a daughter, Annette, who takes the physical form of a human-looking wooden puppet with an extraordinary gift.

Marion Cotillard (La Vie En Rose) turns in a robust portrayal of the mild-mannered Ann and her own singing voice is blended beautifully with that of the professional singer brought in for her opera scenes. Unfortunately, her character is often overshadowed by the more domineering and complex Henry played by Adam Driver (Marriage Story) and in some of her later scenes Ann conjures the image of a classical melodrama victim and a person with little agency of her own.

In contrast, Henry is multi-layered and has greater depth but mostly when he is performing his dark comedy routines as the Ape of God in a comedy club setting. Prowling the stage in his pugilist’s robe, he is all provocation and despair, and Driver’s performance is exceptional.

Henry's fearsome tirades reveal something much more interesting than a self-referential nod to celebrity culture, they illuminate the vulnerability and scrutiny artists, from any discipline, subject themselves to when they share their craft with a wider public, and therefore plaudits are due to Carax and his team for showing this because it is a reflection on the nature of creativity that is rarely expertly nailed on screen.

Expressing what the characters think and feel through song could in theory be liberating and produce a gamut of human emotion, but it doesn’t quite work, and the sung dialogue seems to flatten character development, instead of enhancing it.

The production defies a genre label as it mixes opera, comedy, melodramatic stagecraft, puppetry and musical theatre and it is without doubt a grand and ambitious project but it falls short of pulling it off completely. There are linking sequences that use filmic tropes such as a slow mix of fans gathered at various international airports to illustrate the passage of time. On other occasions, naturalistic set-designs, such as the couple’s house and garden in the woods, jar with larger-than-life theatrical stage sets.

The social commentary around fame and the #metoo movement feel a little too generic. Throughout the first two thirds of the film the filmmakers use chapter headings in the style of a celebrity magazine, which mark the various stages of Ann and Henry’s relationship. Although the tabloid headlines move the story forwards these tableaux set pieces feel overly stylised.

Whilst Annette received a rousing reception at this years Cannes Film Festival where it premiered as the opening film and where Carax went on to win the best director award, it will no doubt divide audiences.

Expect a rousing spectacle of wild and avant-garde ideas, many of which are clever and captivating but collectively they don’t quite connect to each other, and because the production overpowers the characterisation and the storytelling, it ends up weakening the overall impact of a highly original concept.

Annette is showing in cinemas across the UK and Ireland from Friday 3rd September.