Amazon Prime: Review of ANNETTE: Narcissistic Negativity

August 29, 2021

Henry McHenry (Adam Driver) was a standup comedian with an abrasive sense of humor, mooning his audience at the end of his every show. Anne Defraxnous (Marion Cotillard) was an opera singer with an ethereal soprano voice and stage presence, a picture of grace onstage and off. The odd couple soon got married and had a baby girl whom they named Annette. However, the trajectory of their respective careers soon began to diverge, leading to dire consequences.

"Annette" was a simple love story of a celebrity couple which did not have a happy ending, written by Ron and Russell Mael, septuagenarian musician brothers who call themselves the Sparks. Of course, they were also responsible for the musical score and the songs in this movie. Their songs were actually catchy in their odd cadence and repetitiveness of lines. There was this one song that really stood out for me -- "We Love Each Other So Much" which was played over a particularly steamy sex scene. 

Adam Driver was a force of nature here with a powerful performance as the narcissistic Henry, a very unlikable character with absolutely no redeeming factors. Marion Cotillard did all she can with her role, the gentle Anne being a rather one-dimensional character. It was remarkable to learn afterwards that both Driver and Cotillard did their own singing. Simon Helberg (of "Big Bang Theory") had an interesting supporting role as Anne's nameless accompanist, who later became a conductor. 

I first knew of director Leos Carax via his film "Holy Motors" (2013), a weird film which I totally did not understand the point. When I heard that he would be opening the Cannes Film Festival this year with a musical starring big name actors, I was very curious to see what he was going to do. As it turned out, this film had a very clear point. The surreal imagery and storytelling style, from his introductory spiel to an extra scene over the closing credits, had Carax's signature bizarreness, which worked well with the Sparks music.

The use of a wooden marionette to portray the baby and toddler Annette was definitely a strange decision which looked more creepy than cute. However, there was a twist at the end in the portrayal of Annette that made this decision logical and meaningful to the story. The remarkable cinematography and the whimsical production design worked best in the fantasy scenes. However, as a whole, there was this uncomfortable feeling of negativeness about the story of this film that makes it not for everybody. 7/10.