As "Annette" (2021 release; 140 min.) opens, the brothers Ron and Russell Mael and the rest of their band Sparks are in the studio, bursting into "So May We Start". Ron and Russell soon leave the studio, and walk outside onto the street, soon joined by Adam Drive, Marion Cotillard, and others from the cast. Adam and Marion soon change into their characters, resp. Henry, a stand-up comedian, and Ann, an opera soprano. Henry and Ann are in the middle of a whirlwind romance... At this point we are 10 min. Into the movie but to tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.
Couple of comments: this is the latest film from French director Leos Carax ("Les Amants du Pont-Neuf"). Here he takes and builds on an original story from Ron and Russell Mael, who also wrote all of the music and lyrics. The Mael brothers are of course the brains behind the long-running L. A. rock band Sparks, whose commercial heydays were in the 1970s with albums like Kimono My House, and Propaganda. They thought up this by today's standards highly unusual film, which brings an opera/musical drama to life. As in a real opera, the plot advances slowly but steadily, and runs quite long. In that sense, this is a very traditional opera/musical drama. The title character Annette refers to the daughter born to Henry and Ann, and all I will say is that it isn't your usual baby... Just watch! Let me address the many outright negative reviews on here: what in the world were you expecting? This isn't your run-of-the-mill superheroes movie (the many, many, many Marvel films come to mind) or popcorn action movie (the Fast & Furious franchise comes to mind). "Annette" is a one-of-a-kind, completely original film, the likes of which are frankly rarely made anymore these days, and for that we should be very, very thankful. Is the film without flaws? Of course not (for example, Henry's second standup-up segment, set in Vegas, runs far too long and doesn't advance the plot). If you saw the excellent "Sparks Brothers" documentary earlier this year, you already knew that a sizeable part of "Annette" was shot in Belgium (Brussels and Bruges, in particular). Being originally from Belgium myself, I had a fun time trying to match up which scenes had been filmed there. Last but not least, the production budget for this film was an incredible $15 million, a mere pittance by Hollywood standards.
"Annette" premiered at this year's Cannes film festival to positive buzz. It opened in select theaters for a 2 week theater run, and this weekend it premiered on Amazon Prime, where I caught it. Frankly, I felt that the movie got better as it went along and the drama unfolds before our very eyes. If you are in the mood for an opera/musical drama or simply are a fan of Sparks, I'd readily suggest you check this out, be it on Amazon Prime, Amazon Instant Video or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray, and draw your own conclusion.
