Annette

This film reminded me of a new wave of opera directors, who, it seems, only want to find an interesting way to make another performance and not to tell a new exciting Story. I assume that opera directors don't have to find new stories anymore, as the audience doesn't even want a new story, they are much more interested in an another original look at the existing one.

With all this out of the way, I think, that "Annette" is not being understood correctly. The story (even if it's slow and dull) isn't the only thing that makes a movie. If you find yourself watching this film again, pay attention to the acting and editing of the movie. If not for editing I would have assumed that I'm watching a recording of a modern opera or a theater piece. That's why I can recommend this film only to the dauntless among you, namely to the opera fans, who want to see something modern without an additional classical orchestra, and also to the "Sparks" fans, who no matter what will be really happy to hear "Spark" songs in an expensive musical video with a transparent plot.

I have 2 grades for this picture. If I was grading a movie I would have given it 6/10. If opera than 8/10. At average the picture gets 7/10.

The art pop band Sparks (Ron and Russel Mael), recently featured in Edgar Wright's documentary, The Sparks Brothers, has crafted a bizarre, surreal, and all-too-real film that explores the consequences of fame, child exploitation, male stupidity, and marriage. It's a smart rarity, where the characters mostly communicate in song and nothing is safe, not even love.

Henry (Adam Driver), a successful comedian, loves opera singer, Ann (Marion Cotillard, but fame for both is a deal breaker. You've heard it all before (A Star is Born anyone?), and to some extent the disintegration of their marriage is close to a cliché, but their singing and the lack of haranguing or bitter tirades almost has you thinking they can make it. To those adoring fans on the outside, their union is perfect.

With the entrance of their baby girl, Annette, and Ann's exit, Henry is left to his own devices relying on others to care for her but becoming obsessive about Annette's gifted voice. It doesn't take him long to exploit her talent around the world and for the fates to catch up with him.

Driver is particularly effective as a towering talent (his comedy act is unusually odd and bright), brooding and elusive. Although Cotillard could always carry a picture (La Vie En Rose), this one belongs to Driver, whose character is as charged as his performance.

Special credit must be given to the Sparks bros, who wrote the story and the music, evocative of Brian De Palma's Phantom of Paradise and any Sondheim, and to French director Leos Carax, whose off-center vision helps Annette be a wildly different take on the ravages of fame and the hubris of men.

Slow and eccentric for some, just quirky and insightful for others, this romance is artistically enough for anyone wanting a worthy drama that happens to be a musical.

As "Annette" (2021 release; 140 min.) opens, the brothers Ron and Russell Mael and the rest of their band Sparks are in the studio, bursting into "So May We Start". Ron and Russell soon leave the studio, and walk outside onto the street, soon joined by Adam Drive, Marion Cotillard, and others from the cast. Adam and Marion soon change into their characters, resp. Henry, a stand-up comedian, and Ann, an opera soprano. Henry and Ann are in the middle of a whirlwind romance... At this point we are 10 min. Into the movie but to tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: this is the latest film from French director Leos Carax ("Les Amants du Pont-Neuf"). Here he takes and builds on an original story from Ron and Russell Mael, who also wrote all of the music and lyrics. The Mael brothers are of course the brains behind the long-running L. A. rock band Sparks, whose commercial heydays were in the 1970s with albums like Kimono My House, and Propaganda. They thought up this by today's standards highly unusual film, which brings an opera/musical drama to life. As in a real opera, the plot advances slowly but steadily, and runs quite long. In that sense, this is a very traditional opera/musical drama. The title character Annette refers to the daughter born to Henry and Ann, and all I will say is that it isn't your usual baby... Just watch! Let me address the many outright negative reviews on here: what in the world were you expecting? This isn't your run-of-the-mill superheroes movie (the many, many, many Marvel films come to mind) or popcorn action movie (the Fast & Furious franchise comes to mind). "Annette" is a one-of-a-kind, completely original film, the likes of which are frankly rarely made anymore these days, and for that we should be very, very thankful. Is the film without flaws? Of course not (for example, Henry's second standup-up segment, set in Vegas, runs far too long and doesn't advance the plot). If you saw the excellent "Sparks Brothers" documentary earlier this year, you already knew that a sizeable part of "Annette" was shot in Belgium (Brussels and Bruges, in particular). Being originally from Belgium myself, I had a fun time trying to match up which scenes had been filmed there. Last but not least, the production budget for this film was an incredible $15 million, a mere pittance by Hollywood standards.

"Annette" premiered at this year's Cannes film festival to positive buzz. It opened in select theaters for a 2 week theater run, and this weekend it premiered on Amazon Prime, where I caught it. Frankly, I felt that the movie got better as it went along and the drama unfolds before our very eyes. If you are in the mood for an opera/musical drama or simply are a fan of Sparks, I'd readily suggest you check this out, be it on Amazon Prime, Amazon Instant Video or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray, and draw your own conclusion.

I like the main actors here, when I saw the initial trailer some time back I wrote it on my calendar, I was anxious to see it.

It is a very peculiar movie, mostly using the form of singing dialog. A recurring one is the melody "We love each other so much." However as the story moves along we wonder if Driver's stand up comic character really can love anyone.

It is long, I watched it in probably four different sittings, roughly a half-hour each time. I really was entertained by the experimental approach and its emotional extremes. However if you strip it all down it is a plain story. For me the most interesting scene is about 10 minutes from the end, when dad and Annette, now a young girl, do a face-to-face singing number, I was taken aback by how good and with proper emotion the young girl's singing and acting was.

I am glad I watched it, I like to experience all kinds of approaches in movie-making, but I didn't even invite my wife to join me, I know she would not have lasted 15 minutes. I would think most mainstream movie fans would NOT enjoy this one and watch it to its conclusion.

At home, on Amazon streaming.

I am confused on how I feel about this movie. At times I hated it. At others I was simply fascinated by it. And most interesting to see were the reactions. I've never seen so many people leave the cinema. And at the same time so many of those who did make it to the end be completely flabbergasted once the credits roll. The audience was confused and seemingly expected to see more. Like some Marvel after credits scene explaining or adding something.

The things I hated: In short, at times the movie does seem like a pretentious pseudo-intellectual fart-sniffing contemporary theatre/performance art. The songs.

The things I liked: many things are satirical. And most importantly, the twist at the end grounds the sillyness back to reality and puts it into a new perspective. But also, Adam Driver. The songs.

What an interesting experience overall.