Anette - Great Visuals and Music with a Sub Par Story

Directed by Leos Carax, “Anette” is a romance/drama/musical written by Ron and Russell Mael. The story follows Henry (Adam Driver), a comedian with a very dark humor act, who marries a famous opera singer Ann (Marion Cotillard), but when they have their first baby, Anette, their lives offer many different turns.

Adam Driver gives a phenomenal performance, as usual, and the way that cinematographer, Caroline Champetier, shoots the movie along with the music making it an enjoyable viewing.

However, I left the movie with a sense of emptiness. I understand that it is a musical, but I find that when you are using music to tell the whole story it can take away from the emotional moments.

It is important to add dialogue scenes between characters as it supports the story the movie is trying to portray (e.g. Grease, La la land, etc.). This allows the characters to create relationships that feel more real and make the more emotion focused scenes that much more gut wrenching.

Another choice that did not take from the movie, except confused me at first was that they chose to portray their child as a wooden doll (kind of Pinocchio style), which did work because of how they used it throughout the film.

Overall the movie is definitely one that I would recommend you check out for the music and Adam Driver’s performance alone. The score that Ron and Russel Mael had written was fantastic. This film accomplishes what movies are meant to do which is provide good entertainment for its runtime. Rating: 6/10

Edited by Gilbert Lindqvist