Nor does it explore the question, introduced in the first few minutes, of what Beauty sees in him. To put it in musical terms, Ann and Henry are one-note characters. Ann is a vision of divine loveliness and talent, while Henry is a monster of toxic masculinity. At one stage, six women are reported to have “come forward” and accused him of raging violence, but this strand is left hanging. It’s possible that it is simply Ann’s fevered dream – it’s not easy to tell in a film that is as dreamlike as this – but even so, if you’re going to allude to a famous man’s abuse of women, it should be more than a throwaway aside.
There were times when the film was so crass yet so outlandish that I wondered how it ever got made – and I suspect that the two-word answer is “Adam Driver”. It’s hard to imagine that any other actor would or could play his role. Between Annette, BlackKklansman, Paterson, The Dead Don’t Die and The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, Driver has become the patron saint of oddball indie projects that premiere at Cannes. His glowering, fearsomely physical performance here is a tour de force.
It’s not quite enough to save the film’s first half, but the second half is where things really get going. Still a toddler – and still made of wood – the couple’s Pinocchio-like daughter suddenly starts trilling with Ann’s miraculous singing voice. A melodrama then becomes a macabre fairy tale, as dark and fantastical as the Maels’ haunted fun-house music deserves. It’s kitsch at times and transcendent at others, but the delicate puppetry and the gonzo ambition will guarantee Annette a cult following.
In future, it should be shown in midnight-movie double bills with Brian De Palma’s bizarre 1974 rock opera Phantom of the Paradise. For now, it’s just the kind of film you want as a Cannes opener, with its explosive mix of crowd-pleasing Hollywood glamour and European experimental oddness. Annette is sure to be divisive, but it’s a curio that demands to be seen. It’s not as if you get to watch surreal, avant-garde rock operas very often. On the other hand, you might think that that’s for the best.
★★★☆☆
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