Annette (2021) – 3/5

Into the abyss

„Annette“ is a co-production between no fewer than seven countries that is in the English language from beginning to end though. At over two hours and twenty minutes, it is a really long movie and you can probably say that it is one of the most popular musicals of 2021. Or biggest musical projects at least. If you cut out West Side Story, then it may even be number one. The director here is BAFTA-nominated French filmmaker Leos Carax. His nationality may explain the inclusion of the lead actress, but I will get to that later. In any case, Carax has been making movies for over 40 years now, so truly experienced. The writers were Ron Mael and Russell Mael and these two are just as experienced because they form the duo known as Sparks that has been around for a long time and there was even a pretty successful documentary about them not too long ago. So to a big extent this is their film here, also because you see them on quite a few occasions on the screen. I am talking about the very beginning, but not just there. For example on one occasion they are piloting a plane boarded by some of the protagonists to get from one location to another. Still, they are no lead actors, not even supporting actors. It’s all about the cameo. Or cameos I should say. The key reason for me to watch this film was French Oscar-winning actress Marion Cotillard. Really adore her in pretty much everything she is in. But even as a big fan of her, I must say there is stuff I did not like about her in this film. It does not have to do with the acting really, but rather with the way her character was written. Like pure beauty and innocence personified. We even get a Beauty and the Beast reference. It was a bit too much to be honest. Also baffled by her Golden Globe nomination. I mean I would not have been surprised with this film getting in for Best Comedy/Musical or with Adam Driver (maybe he didn’t because there was nothing comedic about his character except his profession), who is a much bigger lead than Cotillard, scoring the nomination, but I guess the Hollywood Foreign Press Association loves her even more than I do. Difficult to blame them.

Anyway, I mentioned Driver here already and this is also his film, not just the Mael Brothers‘ film. It all starts relatively harmless, but the film takes a dark twist soon enough. Alcohol a.o. Is mentioned as one reason for this, but I will elaborate on his character’s downfall soon enough. The biggest supporting player is Simon Helberg. Not sure though why he was in here really. I mean I do like him, but his solo number early on was perhaps the weakest musical moment the film had to offer and he is also not a good singer. In the second half of the movie he is featured more frequently filling in for Cotillard’s character a bit, but it was just a nothing role or character, no matter how hard they tried to convince us otherwise through his affair with the female protagonist and also his professional rise. The only somewhat memorable moment he has was when he is talking to us directly, then taking a little break to conduct and then talking to us again. And taking another break. I also struggled with the idea that the title character could be his biological child. I mean this film plays in the now and Cotillard’s character really should have known time-wise. As for Helberg, maybe the key reason why he was in here has to do with his so far career-defining role, especially in terms of awards recognition where he also plays a key supporting role in a music-themed movie, even if the two leads there were much older. If you consider Grant lead. But that’s another story. Back to this one here: I liked the watch overall. Some good moments. The fact that the protagonist’s child was fully animated, except in the final scene, felt a bit strange initially, but as soon as you realized it was a decision linked to the story, then it somehow made sense. It still worked.

But the highlight for me was the music. They found a way to make musically challenging scenes like a woman giving birth or police interrogations feel accurate and gimmicky in a funny way at the same time. There were maybe three songs I liked. One I adored, one I appreciated and one I found okay. I am talking about the opening that heavily featured Sparks. Such a catchy tune! The second song is the most romantic one from the movie and basically the highlight before it all goes south in the protagonists‘ relationship and it becomes a really dark movie. And the third one I am talking about is the one that features the girl’s name, even if I mostly liked it only for the brief „bon voyage“ part. Sorry to see that really none of these songs managed to get in at the Golden Globes or Oscars. Pity. Sure Eilish isn’t bad either, but still. The Sparks brothers would have deserved it. In terms of family drama, this one has also a lot to offer. The best example is the way we see how Driver’s character (channeling here another evil spirit after Star Wars) really hardly cares about his daughter at all. Look at how he never holds her. How he says goodbye to her in one scene from far away before going out clubbing while another character has to take care of the girl. This culminates in the Hyper (not Super) Bowl revelation, which is the first moment in which we hear the girl really talk, not sing. Which eventually leads to the male protagonist’s downfall. Still in the end, he is not mad at her. But this does not mean he loves her or anything. He wants to be her dad because of her talent. Because she would not have existed without him then. It’s all about him. Always. He is a definitely a narcissist. Something that is also easy to witness during his comedy performances. I must say I struggled a bit with those. The one at the very start that shows us how much they love him was just not good enough for me to really accept his star status. I also did not like the audience’s contributions there, but maybe that was just me. Sometimes less is more. Or the show that went all kinds of wrong. I mean it was hard to believe that he would go on stage with material like this. There was no comedy at all and we are supposed to believe he was such a professional. It could not have gone wrong like this in real life.

A few more words on the female protagonists: You see I am not talking too much about Cotillard here as this is simply not her movie. Still people attracted to her will surely have a good time with some of the more explicit shots here. It’s also by far not the first music-themed film starring Cotillard. I wish she could have longer hair in here. Maybe her character’s most memorable moment is really when we see her in the water in basically her final scene as a human. When she returns as a bit of a vengeful spirit, this was something that did surprisingly little for me. The idea that her spirit lives on through her daughter and that it was somehow supposed to hurt her man. But maybe she just wanted it this way and did not expect him to be as cold as he really was. Even if her death was an accident to some extent, Helberg’s character was murdered and the alcohol or whatever fueled the act to some extent cannot be seen as a valid excuse. With Annette I kept wondering a bit if the name being relatively close to Annabelle was a coincidence. I mean probably as this is not a horror film and even in the film’s more thrilling moments, the girl is never an antagonist at all.

What else can be said? Oh yes, Driver’s character’s final words basically directed exactly at the audience. Haunting, especially with the way how he was very briefly looking right at us before that. It’s still interesting how his career has been going after Girls and that none of the girls managed the big breakthrough, but he did. Just as interesting as Helberg being the one with the best big-screen career from The Big Bang Theory. Alright, I guess this is pretty much it. Pay attention to all the references on Cotillard’s character dying during her musical performances. There could not have been any more effective foreshadowing and even I as somebody who is usually blind when it comes to stuff like that saw it coming. Just not so early in the film. Especially with Driver’s character (Henry McHenry, yep!) elaborating on those moments from his wife’s performances on several occasions. As for the little yellow press news flashes in-between, it will be fully subjective if you like them or not. I did not need them, but they also weren’t horrible. Overall, I give this film a positive recommendation, three stars out of five and I am glad I saw it, even if I kinda hoped it could be a bit better even. But if you like the cast here as I do (to be honest, there’s really only three familiar faces and the rest are unknowns) and don’t mind the length, then you will also enjoy the watch. Go check it out.