'Annette' Is An Allegory On Exploited Love
Adam Driver, Marion Cotillard and Simon Helberg star in this disarming, passionate musical feature
Have you ever seen something so strange yet wonderful? "Annette" is the weirdest film audiences have seen in 2021.
It breaks the fourth wall while featuring about 40 original songs and elaborate puppet productions. Between the graphic sensual scenes and depressing messages on the exploitation of love, "Annette" is a film that leaves audiences in silence as the credits roll.
Director Leos Carax collaborates with story and music by Ron and Russell Mael of Sparks to present the summer's one and only avant-garde movie musical.
In present day Los Angeles, Henry (Adam Driver) is a rockstar-like sensation as a stand-up comedian known as the "Ape of God." He falls in love with Ann (Marion Cotillard), a world-renowned opera singer, whose bright and colorful outfits greatly contrasts from Henry's dark and mysterious aura. Under the public spotlight, they form a passionate and glamorous romance. Meanwhile her long-time friend, The Conductor (Simon Helberg), holds a secret that threatens Henry and Ann's relationship. With the birth of their first child, Annette, their lives are turned upside down.
Annette - Official Trailer | Prime Videowww.youtube.com
According to the press notes, "Annette" wasn't originally going to be a feature film. The Mael brothers were hoping this would be a musical that Sparks could tour with, and the film certainly shows like an elaborate theater production. The press notes also say that though the cast recorded the catchy songs in the studio, most of the actors' singing in the film is live.
Driver, Cotillard and Helberg all bear their souls as their respective characters. In the film, Driver's Henry says he became a comedian to "disarm people." And honestly, all three disarm the viewers at some point or another in the movie with their expertise. The screams are deafening, the tears are devastating and the anger is alarming.
The art direction for this film is intricate and detailed, especially when viewers meet Annette, the couple's young daughter who appears as a series of puppets. As Carax states in the notes, "In the world of the film, she's a real baby, but we can see right away that she's not a baby of flesh and blood." It's a genius representation of how hollow her existence is in a world filled with people who can't love one another properly.
But the most notable thing about "Annette" is the message it conveys. The entire film is an allegory on the chaos that ensues from the exploitation of love whether it be romantic, criminal, filial, obsessive or unrequited love. At the beginning, the film is slow to getting to the message and rather spends time sharing the differences between Ann and Henry. But eventually audiences see that intense emotions following any variation of love can destroy the very thing one cares for, and that's what makes "Annette" so enchanting to watch.
Score: 9/10
"Annette" premieres in theaters Friday, August 6 or on Amazon Prime starting Friday, August 20.
Follow the reporter on Twitter at @s_incorvaia.
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11 Things To Do On Those Easygoing Fall Weekends We All Love
Let's be real, sitting in your dorm room or going out and partying all the time gets pretty old.
When boredom hits, it hits hard. I know I'm not the only one who dreads just sitting in my dorm room with my friends, and sometimes we need a change of scenery from our usual hang-out spots. I compiled the perfect list of fall dates for you and your friends or significant others.
Go Apple or Pumpkin Picking
It's one of my favorite things to do. The experience of the crisp fall air and the beauty of the apple orchards or pumpkin patches is unlike any other.
Plus, you can usually do this for a relatively cheap price. Bonus points if you go to a local farm. Support your small businesses!
Have a Fall Photoshoot
Another one of my favorite things about fall is the fashion. I'm a sucker for sweaters, leggings and my favorite Doc Martens. Your iPhone works great, or a polaroid camera goes perfectly with the season!
Drive to your local pumpkin patch, farm or just walk around your area. There are so many cool places to take pictures.
Pumpkin Painting
This is a great solution if you live in a dorm or apartment building and don't want or can't have an actual rotting, live pumpkin out for the entire month of October. Jack-o-lanterns are fun, but you can always buy the Styrofoam ones from Michael's and paint them. Have a contest with your friends or turn on your favorite Halloween-themed movie and go nuts.
Scary Movie Drive-In
This can still work if you don't have a drive-in theater near you. I was lucky enough to grow up 30 minutes away from an actual drive-in, where I could go hang out with my friends. But there's nothing wrong with building a fort in your living room or just hanging out in bed under the covers. The important thing here is the scary movies.
Go Out for Brunch or Bagels
If "Sex and the City" has taught us anything, it's that you can never go wrong with brunch with your friends. Bypass the mimosas and go for apple cider. Or if you're over 21, drink as many mimosas as you please.
Either way, I know I love bacon, egg and cheese bagels. And I will never say no to lazy Sundays with bagels and my friends.
Bowling
I always forget how much fun this is until I'm invited to do it for a group-bonding activity. Cosmic bowling takes me back to my middle school days, but I still find singing to classics with my friends and laughing at my subpar bowling skills fun. Don't @ me.
Bake Halloween Cookies
My grandma makes those Pillsbury sugar cookies with the cartoons on them for every single season. As the years go by and they add more graphics, she still doesn't get tired of buying them and baking them for us and the kids she teaches at her Sunday school classes.
Do it for grandma. Bake the cookies.
Go Thrift Shopping
This can be as cheap or expensive as you want it to be. I have a fear of trying things on in thrift stores, but I love buying XXL shirts from the adult-men section and making them into crop tops — then washing them three times before I consider them wearable.
It's fashion. Or laziness. Either way, now I have an outfit to go pumpkin picking in or to wear at my fall photoshoot.
Paint and Sip
I, like many of my friends, am underage. My mom has gone to those wine-and-paint parties, and they look super fun. I'm deciding to take it up a notch and do a cider-and-paint party.
Most towns have these studios, or you can invite your friends over and throw one yourself. They're super fun, and you get art to take home afterward!
Go on a Coffee Tour
Or a hot chocolate tour. I'm a big coffeehouse person, and I'm always looking for an excuse to drink as much coffee as I can in a 24-hour period. It keeps you inside, and the aesthetic of coffee houses is very pleasing.
Decorate Your Dorm or Home
You don't have to spend money on this! You can draw some pumpkins on computer paper, cut them out and tape them up. Or you can be extra like my roommates, buy a light box and put "It's freakin bats… I love Halloween" on it. You can buy skeleton decorations for your TV. It's up to you.