I'm glad that I saw the recent Edgar Wright documentary about the history of the band the Sparks, comprised of musician brothers Russell and Ron Mael, because it gave me some idea of what I was in for with "Annette," the film musical that they co-wrote and created all of the music for. Collaborating with French provocateur director Leos Carax, "Annette" is like no musical I've ever seen before. The best thing I can say about it is that it's very committed to its particular style and aims.
Henry (Adam Driver) and Ann (Marion Cotillard) are a comedian and an opera singer who fall in love, undergo a tumultuous marriage, and eventually have a child, Annette (Devyn McDowell). From an early age Annette is able to sing with astonishing skill, resulting in a career as a child prodigy. The story is mostly told from the point of view of Henry, who sees a tragic decline once his career hits the skids, and eventually becomes the driving force behind Annette's exploitation. Another key character is the Accompanist (Simon Helberg), who helps to orchestrate Annette's career and is in love with Ann.
"Annette" is billed as a musical, but is more accurately described as an opera. It's almost totally sung all the way through, and exists in a very heightened, very artificial version of reality. Annette appears onscreen as a living puppet, which allows the filmmakers to put her in situations that would be uncomfortable with a real child, and also to show Henry's detachment from her. The other characters are also wild exaggerations that don't hold up to much scrutiny, and are best regarded as symbolic or allegorical creatures designed to serve the film's larger themes. Henry, for instance, is supposed to be a shock comic, and has a wildly indulgent act where he rants at his audience, sings snatches of Tom Lehrer, and is generally incoherent.
I was a little disappointed with the music. After the upbeat opening number, "So May we Start," the rest of the songs are much more low key and unmemorable. There's also a dearth of anything that could be called a production number. This is in keeping with the career of Sparks, which produces very experimental, very off-kilter music that appeals to very specific sensibilities. It's the kind of music that I can appreciate, but don't get much out of. Likewise, Leos Carax has made a career of keeping one foot firmly planted in avant garde cinema, and it should be no surprise that "Annette" stays stubbornly in its own peculiar groove of "Holy Motors" style absurdism throughout.
On the one hand, this is all wildly pretentious and obscure, and on the other hand it's sometimes brilliant. There's a fabulous scene with Simon Helberg's Accompanist, where he delivers feverish exposition via a long solo, which is occasionally interrupted when he's obliged to conduct the orchestral music accompanying his performance. It's all done in one shot, and it's magical. The opening and ending song sequences, where the cast and key crew members all come together to address the audience directly, are lovely and invigorating. However, an awful lot of the film consists of fairly straightforward domestic melodrama and mundanity, and becomes something of a slog.
Driver and Cotillard sing about love and loss and doom, and make great efforts at convincing the audience that they're anguished and forlorn, to some success. It's really Driver's movie, a chance for him to portray a charismatic monster who gets exactly what's coming to him. His performance is a lot of fun - showy, physical, and weird, but the material is so hemmed in by the artifice, it also feels very compromised. When the film is being wild and unorthodox, it's fascinating, but the bones of the thing are neglected, and the execution is lacking in some crucial ways.
I like the idea of "Annette," and the spirited attitude of its creators. But though the film occasionally shows signs of greatness, this is pretty far from being the truly outre piece of work that I was expecting. It's undeniably a spectacle, but one that confuses instead of wows, that provokes but doesn't get very deep or bother to entertain. There's a good chance I may have missed the point completely, but I don't much care to look any deeper, as there's not much here that seems to need interpretation. And for a movie with such big emotions, I left it strangely unmoved.
---
No comments:
Post a Comment