Annette (2021)

[revbfc]

Synopsis (from Wikipedia):

”The film tells the story of a provocative stand-up comedian (Adam Driver) and his wife, a world-famous soprano (Marion Cotillard). Their glamorous life takes an unexpected turn when their daughter Annette is born, a girl with a unique gift.”

The story and music are by the band Sparks, and here’s the trailer:

 

[EtheltoTillie]

This is a giant turd.  I couldn't get past 10 minutes.  The performance art of Adam Driver's character is so phony. 

[BlackberryJam]

I watched the entire thing. The performance art is clearly supposed to be phony. 

This is not something you can review. I mean. You have terrible lyrics, weird singing, bathrobes, cunnilingus, a choir in night gowns, a puppet that came right out of Dark Crystal, a Natalie Wood-style murder, haunting, a character with no name, child exploitation, a football game half-time show, prison and more weird singing. 

I feel like it should have been seen on a big screen with a rule to take a shot every time you want to giggle. 

I wouldn’t recommend anyone watch it, but I won’t criticize anyone who does. 

[AngieBee1]

Bless artists who can get something as adventurous, audacious and daring as this made, and it will find its audience. However, that audience is not me.  There were some extremely beautiful and transfixing moments but it's too discordant a film.

I've read that  Leos Carax’s earlier film HOLY MOTORS is more polarizing than ANNETTE so I guess this is supposed to be his more palatable film.

[BlackberryJam]

You know, I can’t say I enjoyed it, but I can’t stop thinking about it. I’ve watched plenty of blockbusters that left my head the moment it ended. I don’t know if there is a deeper meaning to this film, or if it was just an experiment in film-making. But at least it wasn’t boring.

 

[DoubleUTeeEff]

There were things I liked. I'm not a big fan of musicals so I liked that this was a dark musical. It kind of twisted the whole idea of musicals. I may be ignorant and there are other examples but I liked that most of the musical numbers weren't catchy or tug on your heartstrings. I thought "May we Start" was catchy but beyond that...not so much.

I liked the names. Henry McHenry is reminiscent of Humbert Humbert. Ann and Annette while obvious, highlighted that they both had talented singing voices. Simon Helberg's character being referred to as first "The Accompanist" and then "The Conductor" showed how he was used by both Ann and Henry. Plus, it amused me to hear Henry sing about his "Conductor Friend."

The puppet was weird but I thought, well that must be easier to work with than a real baby. Then Henry literally exploits her and I thought, Oh duh. She's actually his puppet.

I had heard tell of a weird sex scene so I braced myself for it but none of the sex scenes seemed weird to me. They were just normal sex. Yes, they were singing during it but they were singing through the whole movie, so it's not any different from any other scene in that way. People are so puritanical.

It did feel vaguely sexist to me, though. Was that just because it made you feel dirty to follow Henry's journey, like reading Lolita through Humbert Humbert's point of view? Or was is more than that? I can't quite articulate why. I noticed that after the six women came forward with accusations about Henry, Ann woke up to wildfires like it was some kind of metaphor. But it's not the accusations that are burning down her life, it's Henry. He's the problem, not the fact that women are pointing out that he is a problem. But maybe I took that the wrong way. Also, like the netflix movie You Should Have Left,

Spoiler

women turning into ghosts after men murdered them doesn't seem like any great revenge to me. Their lives have literally ended. They don't get to live any more so haunting seems like a small comfort and not some great power like the movies make it out to be.

Also, Henry gets away with Ann's murder (or reckless endangerment at the least). It's only after he murders The Conductor that he gets caught and sent to prison. So it's not justice for Ann. Instead it's his own twisted ego that he is punished for.

And lastly, Annette blames both Ann and Henry for using her at the end. Henry for showcasing her talent, but Ann for using Annette for revenge through her talent. That doesn't seem entirely fair to Ann because they did show that she loved Annette. She at least played with her while Henry just complained about having to "babysit" while Ann was on tour. It did show Henry's attitude toward parenting, like Tami Taylor says, it's not babysitting if it's your own child. Plus, Ann was dead. It was really Henry's conscience through Annette that was his downfall and not Ann, I don't think.

I did like that it was too late for Henry in terms of Annette, though. Like she said how can she forgive, how can she forget? Can Henry really love her? Maybe he does now that he sees her as more than a puppet but it's not going to save him.

Ultimately, I'm not sure that I liked it, so to speak, but I am glad that I watched it. It was different. Like Us, I'm not quite sure what to think about it but it did make me think, which is something. Both movies stayed with me for a while after I watched them.

[BlackberryJam]

1 hour ago, DoubleUTeeEff said:

[snip]

I had heard tell of a weird sex scene so I braced myself for it but none of the sex scenes seemed weird to me. They were just normal sex. Yes, they were singing during it but they were singing through the whole movie, so it's not any different from any other scene in that way. People are so puritanical.

It did feel vaguely sexist to me, though. Was that just because it made you feel dirty to follow Henry's journey, like reading Lolita through Humbert Humbert's point of view? Or was is more than that? I can't quite articulate why.

[snip]

Ultimately, I'm not sure that I liked it, so to speak, but I am glad that I watched it. It was different. Like Us, I'm not quite sure what to think about it but it did make me think, which is something. Both movies stayed with me for a while after I watched them.

Regarding the sex scene, most films that show oral are showing blowjobs. So...a man that goes down is weird, I guess? Or showing it on screen is weird? I was surprised by the scene, because we so often see women performing on men. I wouldn't have called it weird. It was just regular sex.

I felt like the entire story was told through Henry's gaze, rather than Ann's and that's why it felt more than vaguely sexist. The only Ann POV we really had was the dream. Otherwise it was Henry watching Ann. I mean, the walking in the wood scene, we see

Spoiler

Henry's hands as if the camera is Henry's head. And those hands are coming up, almost as if they are going to strangle her from behind. 

I am also glad I watched it. It was a wild, wild ride, and something I want to think about and talk about, and not just in a "wow, that special effect was cool" way.

[revbfc]

I’m a huge Sparks fan, so I was already predisposed to enjoy this movie, and I did.  The first 30-40 minutes had me on the fence, but then the birthing scene happened and everything clicked for me.  I’ve watched it twice since, and (like others here) I can’t stop thinking about it.

Without getting into spoilers, I ended up disliking all three of the main characters (not named Annette).  Henry is rightly given the spotlight, but Ann and the Accompanist are also EXTREMELY reprehensible if you follow the explicit clues dropped by Carax.  Yes, there are messages here about toxic masculinity, but don’t let that be the only thing you focus on.

For those that felt confounded by it, just know that all the pieces are there for the viewer.  Carax made a daring film, but it’s also his most accessible work.

Edited August 23, 2021 by revbfc

[Suzn]

I hated this movie.  Full disclosure:  I have little patience with try-too-hard artistic movies and for me, a movie has to have substance to out-weigh the pretention.  I was curious about this movie based on glowing reviews I'd heard/read.

I won't get into anything about any meaning the movie may have and only write about the experience of watching it.   It was so boring - long drawn out scenes, waiting for something to actually happen.  A comedian who was painfully unfunny and seemed to have an inexplicable cult following.  The horrible repetitive songs, annoyingly drilling into my head with the jillionth repeat of a line.  Nearly all scenes murky dark so it was hard to tell what was going on.  The puppet baby - I just found that stupid.

The only good thing:

Spoiler

The little girl, Devyn McDowell, who took over from the puppet, as Annette, was amazing.  She had a wonderful voice and handled complicated lyrics perfectly.

I was reading reviews on IMDB and found many with a similar take as mine and there were those pointing out that those of us who didn't like the movie were ignorant clods.  This is precisely why I have little patience with a certain type of movies.  

[EtheltoTillie]

5 hours ago, Suzn said:

I hated this movie.  Full disclosure:  I have little patience with try-too-hard artistic movies and for me, a movie has to have substance to out-weigh the pretention.  I was curious about this movie based on glowing reviews I'd heard/read.

I won't get into anything about any meaning the movie may have and only write about the experience of watching it.   It was so boring - long drawn out scenes, waiting for something to actually happen.  A comedian who was painfully unfunny and seemed to have an inexplicable cult following.  The horrible repetitive songs, annoyingly drilling into my head with the jillionth repeat of a line.  Nearly all scenes murky dark so it was hard to tell what was going on.  The puppet baby - I just found that stupid.

The only good thing:

  Reveal spoiler

The little girl, Devyn McDowell, who took over from the puppet, as Annette, was amazing.  She had a wonderful voice and handled complicated lyrics perfectly.

I was reading reviews on IMDB and found many with a similar take as mine and there were those pointing out that those of us who didn't like the movie were ignorant clods.  This is precisely why I have little patience with a certain type of movies.  

This is a very good description of what I felt.  I just have no patience for this kind of thing. 

[SunnyBeBe]

On 8/23/2021 at 11:34 AM, Suzn said:

I hated this movie.  Full disclosure:  I have little patience with try-too-hard artistic movies and for me, a movie has to have substance to out-weigh the pretention.  I was curious about this movie based on glowing reviews I'd heard/read.

I won't get into anything about any meaning the movie may have and only write about the experience of watching it.   It was so boring - long drawn out scenes, waiting for something to actually happen.  A comedian who was painfully unfunny and seemed to have an inexplicable cult following.  The horrible repetitive songs, annoyingly drilling into my head with the jillionth repeat of a line.  Nearly all scenes murky dark so it was hard to tell what was going on.  The puppet baby - I just found that stupid.

The only good thing:

  Hide contents

The little girl, Devyn McDowell, who took over from the puppet, as Annette, was amazing.  She had a wonderful voice and handled complicated lyrics perfectly.

I was reading reviews on IMDB and found many with a similar take as mine and there were those pointing out that those of us who didn't like the movie were ignorant clods.  This is precisely why I have little patience with a certain type of movies.  

I made it into ten minutes, as some others have mentioned.   Just didn’t grab me at all and I am easily entertained.  But, I’m glad I dropped by this thread….it seems there might be one scene that’s worth checking out.  😆

Edited August 29, 2021 by SunnyBeBe

[SunnyBeBe]

It seems others agree.  Lol

https://www.thecut.com/2021/08/adam-driver-oral-sex-scene-annette-guide.html