Initially, 'Annette' was a new album by the band Sparks, and then Leos Carax turned this idea into a crazy musical.

'Annette' tells the love story of two stars at the peak of their fame. Ann (Marion Cotillard) is an opera singer, a darling of the public who dies for her audience on stage every day. Henry (Adam Driver) is a stand-up comedian who entertains the crowd with provocations. They get married, have a daughter, and after a while, Ann's career takes off, while Henry suffers one failure after another. Then a tragedy occurs in their family, and their daughter discovers an extraordinary gift.

Provocation

From the opening credits of 'Annette', viewers are shocked by the phrase 'don't fart while watching'. This sets the tone for the rest of the film, as we later, for example, observe arias performed during oral sex or while sitting on the toilet. What? Yes!

Also, from the very first minutes, the artificiality of everything happening is striking. The characters deliberately behave in an overacted manner, and the sets in some scenes look like theatrical props. At the same time, the narrative sometimes tries to approach reality: a society gossip follows the characters' love story, and Henry is pursued by women from the #MeToo movement.

In all these decisions, director Leos Carax's provocation and desire to balance on the contrast between low and high are felt. It is no coincidence that the characters belong to radically different worlds. If opera is considered refined, elevated art, then stand-up comedy is generally regarded as a low genre for the masses.

A Film for Critics

'Annette' is not a film for the mass audience; it is rather a film for festival audiences, for friends of film critics, from whose ranks Carax himself emerged. And at the same time, it is a very personal film for the director, who has experienced the loss of a loved one and is trying to reflect on the topic in this peculiar way.

At first, it may seem that the film is a kind of combination of 'La La Land' and 'Marriage Story' with the same Driver, but no, it is something completely original. A genre canvas unlike anything else, but poorly stitched together.

In one episode, hallucinogenic infernals appear in the film, and the recent tragedy in several acts turns into a real horror. This characterizes 'Annette' and Leos Carax's approach very well. He, like Adam Driver's character, who is not embarrassed by the lack of comedy in his performances, takes the audience with provocations, political incorrectness, black humor, and a shameless mix of genres. This can baffle the average person.

Music

How can one talk about a musical without mentioning the music? In 'Annette', the music turned out to be special. For example, there is a song consisting only of the audience's laughter when Adam Driver's character has a dialogue with the audience during one of his performances. Or a track that tells about the technology of childbirth. In all this, the style of music creation by the group Sparks (who are as much co-authors here as Carax) is clearly visible, as they can compose a composition from just one word.

In the end, we have not a film or even a film musical, but a musical theatrical production transferred to the screen, wanting to be everything and nothing at the same time. The viewer is free to interpret what they see as they wish and even invent their own ending for the story. And for particularly impressionable audiences, it is worth advising not to take everything that happens at face value; it is just the vision of a whimsical and peculiar storyteller.

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