The viewing experience of “Annette” starring Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard is very complicated.
In other words, this is a very bipolar work.
The director Leos Carax won the best director at the Cannes Film Festival on this basis, indicating that “Annette” does have its charm.
“Annette” combines musicals with stage plays, breaking four walls from time to time, as if to communicate directly with the audience.
Then it mixes science fiction, horror, love, and suspense stories, cleverly blending the stage with the real scene.
Generally speaking, more than 90% of the lines in musicals are “singed”, but “Annette” is more powerful, and even scenes such as “bed scenes” and birth deliveries are sung, and then integrated into a movie with a strong experimental taste.
And “Annette”‘s narrative style is bold and creative, with a lot of metaphors and echoing lines, which is extremely reflective.
Adam Driver starred in a tragic marriage after “Marriage Story”, and he also had an acting explosion in the movie.
If you can accept this avant-garde and extraordinary narrative technique, then “Annette” is definitely an extraordinary movie-watching experience.
However, if you want to get the best movie-watching experience, you have to go to the cinema, because the images and sound effects of “Annette” were originally shot for the big screen.
If you can’t accept this approach, “Annette” is a simpler story than “Marriage Story” to put it bluntly.
Moreover, the plot of “Annette” has no obvious turning point, but it took nearly two and a half hours to let the audience witness a lost love.
If you put aside the director’s experimental narrative techniques, “Annette” is definitely a very long story.
Henry, a comedian who acted slantingly and defiantly of the world, fell in love with the elegant soprano Ann. The two divergent personalities were in love with each other, and they soon got in touch with each other and gave birth to their daughter Annette.
The birth of Annette did not make the relationship between the two better, coupled with Henry’s career failure, the relationship between the two gradually drifted away.
The gap between their careers and status is very large, and the relationship between the two has gradually moved into the abyss of darkness.
At this time, Henry discovered that the young Annette had talented abilities, which was expected to make him rebound…
From the perspective of this plot, “Annette” is not a full-fledged love story.
This kind of love went from budding to vanishing, from fiery love to resentment, and how Henry became so in love. It is actually a cookie-cutter story.
If you shoot in the “normal” way, this is basically a story that can be told in less than an hour, but “Annette” is enough to shoot for nearly two and a half hours.
If the audience wants to see the movie as a romance, they will find that something is wrong and even make complaints.
Related Post: Musical romance”Annette” released a new trailer.
1.The combination of stage and reality, as well as a little magical scene, makes “Annette” the most distinctive movie-watching experience
Since it is directed by Leos Carax, it can be predicted that the movie is definitely not a “normal” movie.
“Annette” is a work that is highly experimental, bold in narrative, and lopsided. It can even be said that it completely subverts your perception of movie viewing mode.
If you can accept this, “Annette” still looks quite interesting and fun.
It may be difficult to define what type of subject matter this is.
If the narrative from the beginning to the end is considered a musical, then there are a large number of stage elements that have become a stage play.
From the beginning of the film to the end, it has made the audience understand that this is definitely an extraordinary work.
Summarize the actors and production team in a one-shot way, and also predict what works you will watch, and even break through the four walls to make the audience hold their breath.
“Annette” also asked the audience whether to start or not-if you have the patience to see the end of the film, the end of the film also echoes the processing of the beginning of the film.
Finally, “Annette” is actually a story between the stage and reality. There are songs and dances. It is not a traditional “song and dance film.”
Under normal circumstances, “song and dance films” try their best to tell the audience “this is a real story,” and even use a lot of real scenes to make the audience feel real, making people feel that this is not a “movie.”
But “Annette”, on the contrary, keeps telling the audience that all of this is false and that all of this is just a stage effect.
For example, Ann walked up to the forest on the stage, a somewhat magical plot, and the disaster scene on the poster, as well as the baby image of “Annette” herself. They all clearly told the audience that this is purely a stage effect. It’s just a scene!
“Annette” is not a large-scale production, but the visual effects still strive for perfection.
The images that alternate between virtual and real have a lot of visual sweetness. The clever use of mirrors and editing has also greatly increased the visibility of “Annette”, which seems to have a magical power to attract the audience to participate in it.
Even though the entire film spends more than 90% of the time “singing” the lines, the director Leos Carax did not deliberately turn them into “lyrics”, but directly “sing” them in the form of dialogue. You can sing like “bed scenes”, which is really eye-opening.
2.Breaking through the conventions, not only in the shooting skills, but also in the narrative method with a strong experimental taste
If there are only experimental visual effects, “Annette” is just a fancy showpiece.
But Leos Carax also spent a lot of effort to present the story, so that seemingly the same subject matter, the look and feel is by no means conventional.
Henry is a somewhat conceited character, which can be felt from the opening comedy performance.
Compared with Ann’s elegant and noble image, he can clearly foresee the opposite of where the two will eventually come.
Due to the limitations of “singing” and the expression of the stage, “Annette” may hardly have a clear ups and downs like a traditional movie.
However, the two protagonists are in place at different stages of their lives and at every turning point in their emotions. There is no need for extra plots at all. It is enough to take pictures that the audience needs to know.
“Annette” talks about the protagonists falling into the dark abyss of a marriage. Henry knew from the beginning that he would fall into an “abyss”, but he still expressed it in a way of laughing and cursing.
In the end, he fell into this abyss and couldn’t extricate himself. He could only end in death, which also echoed his “prophecy” on the stage.
When a piece of love is gone, re-examining the past, there will be a kind of intuition, a kind of consciousness, and it may have foreseen that this is not a love that a place wants.
The death of love did not come without warning, and plunged into the bottomless abyss. Perhaps this love came too suddenly and blinded you and my eyes.
The description of “Annette” is also concise and concise.
For example, a conductor who was robbed of love by a horizontal knife and waited silently.
The contrast between the two scenes reflects his inner change.
In the second act, it is in the end, which not only expresses the protagonist’s inner world but also shows his commanding talents.
Simon Helberg’s performance in the inner drama is particularly amazing, which can be said to be a highlight of the whole movie.
The antagonistic relationship between Annette and her father, ending in a prison scene, completely shows the opposite of love and hate.
There are also spectators who are holding high and low, and law enforcement agencies that are easy to pass, all have become the object of satire under the lens of Leos Carax.
Even if this is not the main line, it is of certain importance to the plot. The perception of those “audiences”, part of which may also speak the heart of the audience in front of the screen.
Leos Carax chooses the right materials, coupled with this alternative breakthrough four-wall technique, it is also full of distinctive meaning.
3.Adam Driver’s is not very handsome, but his acting skills have amazing performance in the movie
Adam Driver has fully demonstrated his acting talent when he was playing against Scarlett Johansson in “Marriage Story”.
He is no longer a wicked figure hiding behind the mask of Star Wars.
In “Annette”, he plays a male protagonist who is obsessed with love.
Almost from the head to the end, it can be said that it is a great contributor to the whole movie. Without his performance, I believe that the viewability of the movie will be greatly reduced.
Movies often use a shot to the end, and he often has different emotions and almost perfect performances in it, which is quite breathtaking.
In particular, his two “comedy performances” can even be nominated for the best film actor.
His performance in this more complex character can be said to be full of enthusiasm, and it makes people worry about whether he can withdraw from the role after the performance.
Therefore, I think his performance in this movie is far better than “Marriage Story”.
All in all, “Annette” is a bold and breakthrough “song and dance film”.
Leos Carax’s experimental shooting method is not acceptable to everyone.
Even the audience who likes it the more they like it, and the audience who doesn’t like it the more disgusted it is.
Audiences who can accept it will feel shocked, and those who can’t accept it will leave the venue at any time during the two and a half hours.
Speaking of a dead love, there is no consistent narrative technique. The simple and concise brushstrokes, coupled with some magical “sing and dance” scenes, create a unique movie-watching experience.
Even if there are no big scenes in the whole movie, the best viewing experience can be obtained on the big screen.
And Adam Driver’s amazing performances witnessed his talent in acting.
“Annette” is indeed not a masterpiece of elegance and popular appreciation, and the nearly two-and-a-half-hour length seems to be a bit longer.
But if you want to see a unique work that requires patience and thinking to feel, then “Annette” is definitely the best choice.
Related Post: The musical romance “Annette” reveals Final Trailer.
