What would happen if you gave a bunch of ex-theater kids $15 Million to produce a cinematic/operatic musical, BY them and FOR them??!! Watch ‘Annette’ for two hours and 21 minutes, and you’ll get the answer!
The term ‘Inside Baseball’ often refers to things only hardcore Baseball fans will understand. Annette would definitely be the Inside Baseball of the Musical Theater world.
The Plot
The overall Plot of ‘Annette’ is like many things made for the theatter; simple on the surface, but revelling in the details.
Marion Cotillard plays Ann Defrasnoux, a highly popular Opera singer based in Los Angeles, who’s fame has grown beyond the Opera, to include all of popular celebrity culture.
Disney-Star Wars wannabe-Bad-Boy Adam Driver, plays Henry McHenry, a ‘controversial’ standup Comedian, or at least what someone who regularly watches-the-Disney-Channel-and-has-never-been-to-a-Comedy-club envisions a controversial comedian to be.
Ann, predictably, falls for Henry before the credits roll; and even before we’ve met the cast in a 4th-wall-breaking opening scene.
Ann and Henry perform to sold out houses around L.A.; she the queen of the Opera community, and he the long haired, hard smoking, hard drinking King of the Comedy world.
Their relationship, of course, intentionally plays out in front of the cameras – feeding the paparazzi/TMZ/hype machine. As many celebrity couples often do, they play for the cameras to build their brand, then feign invasion of privacy to fuel the ‘Leave Britney alone’ crowd.
Henry swoops in on his bad boy motorcycle and whisks Ann away so they can be alone, away from the ‘prying’ eyes of the press.
The Beauty And The Bastard
Then, Ann and Henry, or’ Annry’ I’m guessing their Celebrity couple name to be; take part in one of the post awkward and unnatural love scenes ever recorded on film. Both nude, but covering themselves. Singing in unison, but with as much romantic chemistry as Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard (YES, THAT bad).
After a slight TMZ break, ‘The Beauty and The Bastard’ get married off camera. We finally meet Big Bang Theory star Simon Helberg, playing ‘The Accompanist’, strangely not getting a name for his character, despite receiving third billing on the movie.
The Accompanist pines for the love of Ann; the woman whom he makes sweet music with, but can’t seem to break out of the friendzone with once Henry comes calling.
‘Annry’ soon gets knocked up, and after a pregnancy time jump, gives birth to a beautiful baby marionette, even more horrifying than the Annabelle dolls from ‘The Conjuring‘ movies.
Despite all the fame and money, Annry struggles like any other first time parents. Annabelle, err ‘Annette’, sees further chaos enter her young life, when Henry has his own personal ‘Me Too’ moment that leads to a breakdown.
What possibly could go wrong from here?
The Good
The Visuals
Despite the creepy doll, ‘Annette’s visuals are surprisingly well done for a film with such a tiny budget.
The Cinematography and Production Design are amazingly well done. Caroline Champetier and Florian Sanson deserve shout outs for their work.
Champetier painstakingly executes long, 360 degree shots that are beautifully framed and lit; and uses tons of supporting and background performers.
And, Sanson creates a seamless cinematic look, despite many different settings on stage, back stage, in the audience, on T.V., as well as on the actual streets of L.A.
The ‘Theater’ Experience
Director Leos Carax right from the get go makes the audience feel as if they’re part of his theater troupe. The viewer isn’t just getting a behind-the-scenes look at the production; they feel like they are a part of the actual story.
The film starts at a recording session that bursts out into the streets, with the main cast members singing directly to the audience, before being handed their characters’ props and taking their first positions.
The audience inclusive experience continues as the ‘faux’ audience within the film actually sings along with the characters on stage. Long takes slowly zoom in and out, making for a more seamless performance and slowly going from just the stage to audience and performers together.
The Bad
The Theater Nerd World View
As someone who had a tons of fun as a self described ‘Bank Geek’ and choir nerd in High School; I appreciate bonding over the performing arts and the teamwork it takes to put on a show.
HOWEVER, the world view shown in Annette falls into the trap of being so inside baseball, so limited to the theater nerd crowd, that everything seen in this film is shown through that lens. I.E. The Standup Comedy world, the Operatic world; even the Celebrity Couple/paparazzi world don’t feel real. The FEEL like how a theater nerd crowd VIEWS those worlds.
Worst among these is how Adam Driver represents the Standup Comedy world.
Adam Driver
While Adam Driver is a talented actor in his own right, and his performance as Kyle Ren was far from the worst part of the Disney Star Wars trilogy; he seems woefully mis-cast a the Bad Boy standup comedian.
The bathrobe on stage, the endless chain smoking, and the angry whipsers and breathing into the microphone; all FEEL like Adam Driver has NEVER actually been to a Comedy Club. Throw in briefly mooning the audience to end his ‘set’, and you see what I mean. He’s like the Bad Boy on a Disney channel movie who wears a leather jacket and the knees on his jeans are torn.
Added to that, Adam Driver is NOT a good singer. He tries very hard, and you can tell he worked on his voice; but, the deficit of singing talent is impossible to ignore. Think Pierce Brosnan TRYING to sing in the Mama Mia movies, and you get the idea. And, Adam Driver is in over his head compared to the other performers in this film.
Sung Through Muscial
Writers Ron and Russell Maels‘ and Director Leos Carax’ decision to make Annette a Sung Through Musical – meaning a musical where ALMOST every line is sung instead of spoken; misses the mark.
Instead of being a straight ahead Musical where the characters speak normally until their emotions become so strong they break out into song; Annette features Librettos where entire conversations take place while singing, but yet not really being a ‘song’.
That creative choice is one that makes sense for a stage production, but it doesn’t translate well to this format. The Libretto in this case distracts from the film, especially the idea of Ann and Henry singing to each other while ACTUALLY riding a motorcycle down the interstate. They aren’t in front of a green screen. Adam Driver and Marion Coitillard are actually riding down the highway on a Harley… And singing. NO BUENO.
The Puppet
No… Just, NO!
The Review
While you can easily tell a ton of effort and expertise were put into making this stage musical adapted to film; many of the creative decisions miss the mark.
The unrealistic portrayal of the Standup Comedy scene, the utilization of a Libretto throughout the film, and most of all, the creepy and ugly marionette doll; all take away from this film. I hate to say this, as you can tell the filmmakers and actors put forth a ton of effort and emotion into this project; but, unfortunately, it falls short.
I can get behind what they were TRYING to do with Annette, but I can’t get behind the finished product.
SKIP THIS FILM.
Additional Information
Dragon Movie Guy’s Review Nation page
Score
Score
Review Nation Score
'Annette' stars Adam Driver, Marion Cotillard, and Simon Helberg as 'The Accompanist'. Some weird Directorial choices disappoint an otherwise excellent effort.