Annette

Ein Film, der einen zu töten versucht, um einen zu retten. Niemand kann einem Menschen die Augen aus dem Kopf reißen und sie von innen nach außen drehen wie Carax. Du starrst in den Abgrund und er starrt in dich hinein. Für mich ist es ein überraschend intimer Film über Schmerz, Selbstbetrug und Vaterschaft, über die Illusionen, in denen wir uns verlieren und auch darüber, dass der Film als ultimative Illusion manchmal alle Masken herunterreißen kann. Rationalität wird überbewertet, Phantasie wird die Welt retten. Oder ihr wenigstens ein angemessenes Begräbnis ausrichten. (04.08.2021)

Annette can be described as Carax’s Southland Tales, as it also raises great expectations that it doesn’t live up to, while presenting a distinctive and tenaciously conceptual vision that is both easy to brush off and fulfilling to interpret, and it also goes stubbornly against the grain, seeming obstinately serious while offering an inwardly atypical and subversive spectacle that, however, exposes and adores all spectacles in equal measure. If we look for parallels to Annette and delve deeper into Carax’s cinephilia, we may also arrive at Jacques Demy and his ultra-kitschy and, at the same time, subtly self-reflective and totally self-assured musicals, which looked misguided next to the New Wave of the time, though they were essentially New Wave due to their obstinate formality and artificiality. Similarly, Carax’s treatment of the screenplay by Sparks tells a story that is banal at its core; in this case, a tabloid romance from the world of show business, full of grand emotions. He presents it to us gnawed down not only to the marrow, but also to its essential theatricality, self-centred pomposity and performativity. If in Holy Motors he showed film as a medium of deception and illusion, even as he simultaneously sang their praises and elevated the nude king himself to an enchanting phoenix, in Annette he constantly presents the artificiality, unreality and lifelessness of his opera from the world of alt-pop music videos. Films that don’t give us what we want are actually in some ways the most honest and unexpectedly fascinating. (10.07.2021)

Neo-Baroque lost its neo and only baroque remained, whose weight of gilded encumbrance may have been another bead in the rosary of genre-ironic creations of cinéma du look, but the repetition of the prayer mantra reveals itself here as a doubly double-edged sword, which Carax cut himself with this time: by repeating the form, its true power was diluted, the power of negation through a convention-incompatible form, to such an extent that the negation of negation (= form) evoked simple mathematics - multiplying two minuses gives us a plus, which is nothing but the valorization of the content itself. And in the content, I saw nothing but convention, to which only a different narrative vector and occasionally a comedic tone could not suffice to break free from it. Symptomatically, here, the undermining and playing with genre forms (musical, melodrama, fairy tale, etc.) is nothing more than something we have already seen in other more commercial works because such "postmodernity" has long been privatized by Hollywood. Hollywood has finally caught up with and absorbed Carax like a depth that is truly dangerous to look into because, from this perspective, cinéma du look can turn into cinéma du don't look. Neo-baroque always started in apparent kitschy sweetness only to turn bitter, but this transition was (in the best works) caused precisely by the inversion of conventions of given forms, while when we want to repeat this Neo-baroque dramatic arc only on the level of content, we always end up with nothing but convention sneaking in through the back door. Perhaps the transformation of the puppet into a living being was supposed to be an interpretive indication of the author's mise en abyme, with which Carax wanted to convince the viewer at the last moment that his film is not just a bloodless marionette swallowing the budget, but a work containing life, yet even in this final attempt (which is nothing other than a replication of Hollywood desires), he failed. (09.07.2021)

The unusual musical Annette, adapted from the stage production, is a brilliantly crafted tragic romance, both cinematically and musically, and it also works well as a sharp critique of the artificial world of show business, which leaves no room for true love. It is certainly not a movie that will appeal to the masses, but it will certainly find an audience. Fans of the band Sparks and of Adam Driver, who is here in top acting form, will be over the moon (75%) (24.03.2023)

The musical is itself a genre that divides audiences, and I think this film will divide its fans into two camps: either you'll be excited by this rock opera or you'll be perplexed by it. Personally, I am in the latter category. Annette is a poetic story about love, professional jealousy, the flip side of popularity, and also about fatherhood and forgiveness. Already in the first minute, I got the impression that this was going to be a very weird film. The music by the Mael brothers, aka The Sparks, was catchy and I don't have a single complaint in that regard, but at times I found the lyrics a bit repetitive, and "We love each other so much" was still ringing in my head a few days after the film. I certainly appreciate that the story itself is quite simple, but it is presented in a very unpredictable way. Most of the time I had no idea where the film was heading, which meant I was in for a lot of surprises. For example, a newborn puppet child who clearly inherited Adam Driver's ears. I can understand this decision from a creative point of view, because metaphorically Annette does become a puppet of her parents who use her for their own purposes, but I found it very distracting, even comical. But maybe that's what made the final scene with "Pinocchio's transformation" all the more impressive and emotional. Marion Cotillard was a bit bland alongside her fellow actors this time. Adam Driver gives another riveting performance, and his friend Simon Helberg, the conductor, charmed me with his performance; I would have liked more space for him, because dramatic roles suit him, and I hope to see him more often in them. So what is the source of the perplexed feeling about this film? The singing of Marillon and Adam did not please my ears and their daughter Annette reminded me more of a Chucky doll. Finally, the fact that this film is such a dreamy mix of genres full of surprises that feels a bit cluttered, but at the same time paradoxically very ordinary, which can be just a bit confusing in the end. (10.03.2023)