Los Angeles, today. Henry (Adam Driver) is a stand-up comedian with a fierce sense of humor who falls in love with Ann (Marion Cotillard), a world-renowned opera singer. Under the spotlight, they form a passionate and glamorous couple. The birth of their first child, Annette, a mysterious little girl with an exceptional destiny, will turn their lives upside down.
I’m only going off of basic things I can look up on my phone. It’s not that I’m avoidant to “high art,” operas just tend to be outside your average person’s wheelhouse. So I’m delighted to sit through one of Amazon’s biggest acquisitions from Cannes – “Annette.”
Annette stars Adam Driver as a provocative stand-up comedian Henry McHenry and Marion Cotillard as Anne, a renowned opera singer. The unlikely pair shares their views in the spotlight, bonding over unnecessary attention. When Anne bears the two a child, their relationship undergoes dangerous stress. The child is a miracle and Henry’s determined to show it to the world, for better or worse.
As I said, I’m not even mildly versed in operas but the way this whole movie designs its more elaborate sets and sings its way through each traumatic scene feels purely operatic. Most of the locations used are natural but the expensive ones get the theater treatment. Instead of a boat in a water tank with CG rain, we get a very clear LED backdrop of turbulent seas and the false veneer of a stage set. The lone island Henry and his child Annette adorn looks like a prop piece designed for theater.
The biggest theatrical piece of it all is Annette herself. The baby is portrayed with a puppet, an actual wooden puppet. The stiff movement unnerved me and I kept drawing back to the choice to make the titular character a prop but as the film goes on we begin to realize this is Annette seen from her Father AND her Mother’s perspective. She is a puppet meant to be manipulated for their own gain. Her autonomy means nothing to both her parents who need her for validation and success.
Driver and Cotillard carry the hell out of this film. It’s loaded with almost non-stop singing and incredibly deep emotions. Driver is belting out his anger and frustration over feeling inadequate while drunkenly dancing around his house. This has to be the first movie where two actors interrupt an oral sex scene to sing about their love for each other. It’s not crass it just utilizes the medium of film recording to emphasize the unique blend of opera and film at hand.
Surprisingly, Simon Helberg steps out from the shadow of CBS’ “The Big Bang Theory” for a role that demanded the utmost from him. While not a main character, his presence (as a B plot character at least) feels electric and one scene, in particular, showed off such acting chops I forgot my bias towards the easy work of “The Big Bang Theory” and excites me about the future of Helberg’s career. He has a well of acting prowess I had no clue existed.
“Annette” feels overwrought at times but that’s how Opera works! Emotions are big! Sets are big! The stories feel grandiose! “Annette” maintains that theatrical grandiosity but keeps its feet firmly on the ground telling this story of a cursed family. The drama, hyperbolic to say the least, feels like a Greek tragedy. The costuming and set design all hint at the ancient tradition of Grecian theater.
“Annette,” tells a wickedly dark tale through an operatic ode, filmed in front of a camera. It blends the theatrics and musicality of an opera with a realist film aesthetic that, when blended together, can feel utterly absurd. The oral sex scene certainly felt absurd, and yet I couldn’t help but get caught up in its drama. As much a formal exercise as it is an original new opera, I thoroughly enjoyed “Annette” and recommend fans of big, grandiose musicals give this one a try. It’s not like anything your average viewer has seen!
In Theaters Friday, August 6th and on Prime Video Friday, August 20th
