Annette by cult director Leos Carax opens the Cannes Film Festival – what the critics say…
Rock Opera
by Alexa DalbyAnnette
[rating=4]
CAUTION: Here be spoilers
His first film since 2012’s Holy Motors, Leos Carax’s first full-on English-language film, Annette is a musical set in Los Angeles that features original music from the ’70s rock duo Sparks (Ron and Russell Mael). It tells a love story between a provocative stand-up comic (Adam Driver) and his wife, world-famous opera star (Marion Cotillard). Their glamorous life takes an unexpected turn when their daughter Annette is born, a girl with a unique gift.
Mad fantasia
“Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard brim with nervous energy in this bizarre musical collaboration between Leos Carax and the Sparks brothers… It’s a swoon of anxiety and rapture.” Guardian
Bonkers magic
“A gifted director whose sweeping romantic visions have encompassed ecstasy and anguish…a dark fairy tale about a man so consumed by love he ends up destroying it…the stubbornly flat new film is a strange and discordant creation…This is disappointing coming on the heels of Edgar Wright’s wonderful documentary The Sparks Brothers, which outlines the Maels’ longstanding desire to make a movie…Carax’s trademark bonkers magic elevates many of these scenes… – Hollywood Reporter
The Beautiful, Baffling Annette Dares You to Take It Seriously
“….If nothing else, this astoundingly beautiful picture will stand the test of time…” – Vulture
Annette opens the Cannes Film Festival on 6 July 2021. It is set be released in France on 6 July. It is scheduled to be released in the United States in a limited release on 6 August 2021 prior to digital streaming on Amazon Prime Video on 20 August 2021. Annette is released in the UK on 3 September 2021.
