Annette (Leos Carax is back)

This is finally out in cinemas. Life finds a way!

Caught it tonight and what an audacious mess of a thing it is. It starts with a musical prelude which is effectively the sequel to the accordion scene in Holy Motors (an all timer of a musical interlude). The film that follows than proceeds to troll, surprise and trick the audience at every possible opportunity.

Sparks’ music is best at its liveliest, worst with a couple of humdrum, pace-killing ballads. There are some magnificent flights of fancy, and some less impressive detours. But there’s a tonne of memorable scenes, boundless invention and just a general ‘anything and everything goes’ attitude that is quite the spectacle. Adam Driver’s performance is seriously, unsettlingly intense, although the film doesn’t give Cotillard as much space to shine which is a shame.

Most of Annette is bizarre, ironic and hyper-stylised - it’s beyond melodramatic and barely grounded in actual human emotion (or indeed grounded in actual humanity, since a key character is a ludicrous, slightly creepy puppet). But there’s a deceptively personal, even earnest film underneath its outrageous surface - something which does ultimately come to the fore and elevate this strangest of films beyond bizarro arthouse musical.

It’s the sort of film that comes with a huge ‘not for everyone’ disclaimer. I also don’t think it’s as good as Holy Motors. But it is certainly good IMO, and the kind of divisive big screen oddity I’ve very much missed during the pandemic.