Annette

Directed by Leos Carax (Holy Motors) and with the music and script written by Ron and Russell Mael of the long-running American pop duo Sparks, Annette is an intriguing new musical starring Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard. Set to open the Cannes Film Festival this year, the plot is not so much to be understood—at least at this point—as felt.

It starts with a dramatic piano track set to Driver’s effusive baritone (which, it must be said, would be very difficult not to hear as Driver’s last major character, Star Wars’ Kylo Ren). A sudden key change and in inclusion of strings fifteen seconds in keeps us guessing.

This dramatic intro takes a turn at 0:30 with the studio title card and a count on four, opening to a shot of a recording studio. This music is confirmed to be diegetic (in the world of the film) at 0:36 with a drumstick on the hi-hat and hands hammering the keys, and we see Russell Mael for a brief second. This next section stands in stark contrast to the opener, a hard-driving, euphoric pop track with a choir of vocals. (Make no mistake: The movie may be called Annette, but this is a film as much about Sparks and their music, not unlike musicals such as ABBA’s Mamma Mia. In addition to Annette, which sees Sparks assuming full creative control in a culmination of sorts for their musical career, there is also a forthcoming documentary by Edgar Wright about the duo.)

Just as suddenly as the first segment, however, this song is cut off with the clicking of scissors against a near-silhouette backdrop. We only realize a moment later that this is a childbirth scene; the baby’s cries with no soundtrack are stark.

The next song meets the first two in the middle with a rollicking yet gentle ballad in triple meter; at this point, one realizes the trailer functions as much as a sampler of songs for the film as anything. We see Simon Helberg (most likely best known for his long run on The Big Bang Theory) conducting what looks to be a diegetic orchestra (:58) Whatever extent this unusual emphasis on diegetic sources for the soundtrack ties into the story proper, let it be said it’s at least intriguing.

Other than the main pitch—comedian meets opera singer; they have a baby; tragedy ensues—both the film and the music, in its stylistic range, are unapologetically enigmatic and eclectic. We might explain this perhaps only by the fact that the entire project is driven by a duo with the experience and confidence to do it, buoyed also by the star power attached to the project.

Annette is set to open the 74th Cannes Film Festival on July 6.

— Curtis Perry