'Annette', tale of songs, laughter and torment

Denis Lavant, moving through the streets a step away from the town hall and to the rhythm

of David Bowie's

, in the prodigious

(1986); the feast of fireworks, with the

by Johan Strauss in the background, and Lavant and Juliette Binoche, drunk with passion, in the masterpiece

(1991); the apotheosis of the accordions, also commanded by Lavant and of increasing intensity, in the form of ecclesial traveling after the intermission of the suicidal

(2012). The films of Leos Carax, baptized from the beginning as the

of French cinema, they have always exploded in the form of musical downloads of wide impact.

So it makes perfect sense that he ended up writing a musical: the formidable

tale of songs, laughter and torment about love and death, creation and desolation, ego and martyrdom, envy and bravery, passion. and mistreatment, family fatherhood and artistic fatherhood.

And it has done so from the hand of the American cult group Sparks, born in the seventies, of continuous experimentation, and with the operatic seal as its main hallmark.

More information

• Leos Carax radicalizes Cannes with his musical 'Annette'

• Adam Driver, a seasoned 'ex-marine' in auteur cinema

The brothers Ron and Russell Mael, members of Sparks, are the authors of the original idea of ​​the film and the songwriters of the songs.

But Carax, of course, is not satisfied with illustrating the issues in images.

It adds a patina of eccentricity and innovation, of aesthetic taste and courage, in keeping with a filmography like his: with droppers but with an indelible mark, even in its failures, as in the very interesting

(1990).

Is

a work without text just is

not like that (almost) nothing.

Perhaps in its concept it can be connected with certain rock operas, especially with

(The Who / Ken Russell) and

(Pink Floyd / Alan Parker). But it transcends both because its stamp is also very anchored in the particularities of the classical musical, with the graphic composition of pictorial inspiration of the different elements in the shot, with its expressive unity, and with the exteriorization of the internal state of the characters through of the songs. Meanwhile, at the bottom of the story, Sparks and Carax describe the dark, egotistical, domineering, envious, cruel and even criminal side of certain men in their relationships, and of a world capable of exploiting its heroes both on their peaks and in its sinkholes. Adam Driver, also a co-producer, and Marion Cotillard, his protagonists, do a majestic physical and vocal task. And the rest is put by the wonderful work of inventiveness, art and technique with the baby, and with the two subsequent girls,that are already part of the history of cinema.

A

invites us in the first minute of footage to hold our breath before what is yet to come.

A sign of absolute confidence in the worth of the work of some creators who, according to that same voice, can be vain.

Maybe they are, but there are good reasons for their safety as artists.

His film, winner of the best director award at Cannes, is a conquest.

ANNETTE

Direction: Leos Carax.

Performers: Adam Driver, Marion Cotillard, Simon Helberg.

Musical genre.

France, 2021.

Duration: 140 minutes.