PERFORMANCE ANXIETY
Driver the driving force in quirky musical fantasy of an offbeat marriage
The opening scene of this year's Cannes-opening film Annette features a rousing musical romp through the streets of Santa Monica, with stars Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard joined by director Leos Carax, writers/ songwriters Ron and Russell Mael and a chorus of backup singers doing a meta-number called So May We Start? But La La Land 2 this ain't.
In fact, if you had to elevator-pitch this odd confection, it's La La Land meets Marriage Story, with a touch of Pinocchio thrown in for good measure. If that sounds deeply weird, well, welcome to the world of Carax, who won the best director prize at the Cannes festival but also divided audiences there.
Driver and Cotillard star as Henry Mchenry and Ann Defrasnoux. He's a self-loathing comedian with a shocking style, she's a famous opera singer. As they put it (in song), every night he kills, she dies and they both take a bow.
They're the kind of showbiz power couple you can't imagine staying together for long. And sure enough, cracks appear in the relationship, though not before Ann gives birth to Baby Annette, who quickly develops a talent to rival even that of her parents.
Driver delivers a powerful, energetic performance, but the story lags a bit when Cotillard all but disappears midway through. (And midway through two hours and 20 minutes leaves a lot of time.) Still, it's fascinating to watch his character slowly come unglued — not that he was that stuck together in the first place.
And there's no denying that the musical Mael brothers are having a moment. This summer saw the release of The Sparks
Brothers, Edgar Wright's love letter to the duo, which documented (among other things) aborted movie projects with Jacques
Tati and Tim Burton. Well, third time's the charm.
Then again, whether you're charmed by Annette depends in large part on how willing you are to engage with its artifice, its
meta-theatrics and provocations within provocations — and the very unusual casting choice for the title character. If you like sure footing, you may find yourself falling away from the film. If you don't mind a little uncertainty, you might well fall for it.