Singin' in the Pain

Movies: Annette

So, I was going to include Leos Carax's rock opera, Annette, in with my "Movies I watched in September" blog post, but I realized that this film deserves its own entry.

I watched Annette two days ago and I can't stop thinking about it. I've gone back and rewatched a few scenes, as well as downloaded the soundtrack. It's a film that is mesmerizing and strange, at times cringey and at other times absolutely gut-wrenching.

The film, as well as the music, was written by Ron and Russell Mael, who are also known as the musical duo Sparks. Sparks is having a hell of a year--in addition to releasing Annette in 2021, they were also the subject of a documentary by filmmaker Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Baby Driver). Indeed, the soundtrack to Annette is one of its strongest features.

Another strong feature of the film is the acting. Adam Driver who just cannot stop being so fucking talented plays Henry McHenry, a comedian who falls in love with Ann Defransnoux (Marion Cotillard), an opera singer. Rounding out the cast is Simon Helberg (best know for his role as Howard Wolowitz in The Big Bang Theory) who plays a character named only "The Accompanist", who is a musical accompanist for Ann and is also in love with her. 

Ann and Henry's relationship is an opposite-attracts one, which they sing about in "We Love Each Other So Much", which is both my favorite song in the movie and also my favorite sequence in the film. For those of you who pay attention to movie news and/or are Adam Driver stans, like myself, this is the part of the movie where Driver sings while performing cunnilingus. Well, I mean, technically he lifts his head to sing a line...he doesn't actually sing into Marion Cotillard's pussy. 

The problem is...Henry isn't a nice guy. He is aggressive, volatile, an alcoholic, and physically dominating. There's a scene immediately after the infamous cunt-singing scene where Henry holds Ann down and aggressively tickles her. Even though the implication is that it's consensual, it's an interesting contrast to the previous scene because it shows how easily such fun and games could slip into non-consent given Henry's size and unstable personality. 

We don't see just how volatile Henry is until later, after the couple has a child, Annette (played by a marionette, which only adds to the dreamlike and bizarre quality of the film) and Ann gains international fame while Henry's career starts to fizzle out. He becomes resentful for having to "babysit" Annette (YOU'RE THE DAD, MY DUDE) while Ann travels the world, singing to an adoring audience. Henry hits the bottle more and more often, and eventually has a breakdown during one of his performances where he claims he killed his wife by "tickling her to death", and then pantomimes this event. It's a hell of scene for Driver and, I can't believe I'm saying this, but it's almost Shakespearean--just this intense, bizarre, funny-but-not-funny monologue that has the audience booing him off the stage by the end of it. I love it when an actor is willing to just be a combination of nuts and vulnerable. Sorry, I'm trying to not let my horniness for Driver effect this review, but uh, it's my blog and I'm going to be horny if I want to be.

Well, he doesn't actually kill Ann by tickling her to death....but, uh....spoilers spoilers spoilers...

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SPOILER SECTION

The couple take a trip on their yacht to heal their relationship, but during a storm, Henry forces Ann to dance with him while he is blind drunk. She falls overboard and dies. After her death, Henry discovers that baby Annette can sing in Ann's voice. Knowing that his career is over, Henry immediately ropes the Accompanist into his scheme to exploit baby Annette's talent for commercial gain. The Accompanist makes a great contrast to Henry: he is short where Henry is tall, patient where Henry is impatient, and gentle where Henry is rough. I'm really happy to see Helberg getting interesting roles, post-TBBT because he is one hell of a talented dude, both in terms of acting and singing. His character, the Accompanist, was in love with Ann and also suspects that he might be the actual father of Annette, so even though he finds Henry loathsome, he is willing to become involved for Annette's sake.

Well, it's only a matter of time before Henry on-purpose drowns the Accompanist, an act which Annette reveals to the entire world during a performance. The final scene is Henry in prison and Annette--no longer played by a puppet, but a little girl--telling him that he can't love her, "not really". It's a devastating ending which nearly had me in tears. 

END SPOILERS

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You might be wondering why the hell you'd want to watch a movie about a shitty, resentful dude who throws away all the gifts he was given in life and then refuses to take responsibility for his actions. But remember that this is a rock opera, and operas are meant to be over-the-top and, often, incredibly tragic. If Annette were an indie drama, it would indeed probably be a pretty annoying film. But the medium allows it to turn the emotions up to 11, embrace concepts like star-crossed lovers, and pile tragedy upon tragedy--it's an opera for God's sake! You want your operas to feel like TOO MUCH.

Annette is the kind of movie where you'll read about it and either think "yeah, no fucking way I'm watching that" or "hell yes, this is right up my alley". From reviews I've read, people either think it's the most ridiculous, embarrassing movie of the year or the best movie of the year. I'm not quite willing to label it "best of the year", but I will say that it really hit me hard and I think I will be thinking about it and listening to the music for quite a while. So if you're on the fence, I'd highly recommend checking it out--and be prepared to have some strong opinions about it!

Grade: A- 

At the very least, watch the opening sequence, which slaps: