And so it begins.
Cannes 2021 opened with Leos Carax’s movie with music, by the cult group Sparks, called “Annette.”
Early reviews describe “Annette” as “bizarre” and “joyless.” Everyone is commenting on a scene in Adam Driver’s character performs oral sex on Marion Cotillard’s character while singing. That’s the highlight, the hook.
“Annette” will open in the US in August. Sounds like a lot of hype, something audacious, perfect to open the Cannes Film Festival. It’s getting everyone’s attention.
Scott Feinberg of the Hollywood Reporter: “Cannes opener ANNETTE is hella out-there… singing mid cunnilingus is the least of it… polite 70-second applause… onwards.” Feinberg added that there were five minutes of applause after the credits and the lights went up. That is considered a tepid response in Cannes.
David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter: ‘The insubstantial narrative can’t support the bold, operatic strokes of the storytelling…there’s also a nagging naiveté, even a silliness to the storytelling that kept bumping me out of the sluggish drama. ”
read also: amFAR in Cannes Still Up to Their Old Tricks
Variety, on the music from Sparks: Sondheim schmondheim. Instead of advancing the plot, they pick a groove and stick to it, like a broken record, recycling the same phrase over and over — “We love each other so much” or “You think I care what you think of me?” — until it becomes some kind of tantric mantra.”
Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian writes: “Annette is a forthright and declamatory and crazy spectacle, teetering over the cliff edge of its own nervous breakdown, demanding that we feel its pain, feel its pleasure and take it seriously. ”
A Twitter account called @ianamurray wrote: “i thought adam driver doing bo burnham-style stand up and having a horrifying robot baby with marion cotillard was weird but ANNETTE just kept outdoing itself. a true shitpost of a movie. don’t know if i like it yet but i respect the audacity”
Audacity is good.
Screen International writes: “An ungainly, frustrating affair… an audacious folly that comes across as grandiose and joyless.”
I do know that Cotillard exits halfway through the movie. She may have had the right idea.;
Keep refreshing…
The #Cannes2021 crowd showered ‘Annette’ with a polite 5-minute standing ovation for Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard. pic.twitter.com/20lCbOipwp
— Ramin Setoodeh (@RaminSetoodeh) July 6, 2021
