Keswick Film Club - Annette

Synopsis

"A bonkers and totally brilliant musical laced in sardonic humour" – Charlotte O'Sullivan, Evening Standard.

"Adam Driver is monstrously good in Leos Carax's gorgeous musical" – Tara Brady, Irish Times.

This film will split our audience; will you love or hate it? "Working from a libretto by the cult band Sparks, cult director Leos Carax's English-language debut is unlikely to please mayonnaise mainstream tastes. But for those seeking surprises, spectacle, and shadows, Annette is a marvel like no other" – Tara Brady again - so it sounds ideal for our Film Club!

A musical, then, with music (and story) by Sparks, where Annette is played by... a puppet. Adam Driver is Henry, an extrovert stand-up comedian who falls in love with Ann, an Opera singer (Marian Cotillard). Their baby, Annette, threatens to bring about the end of his career, but has special powers of her own which Henry is happy to exploit to get his career back... are you still with me?!

"Yes, Annette is an extravagantly ridiculous affair, a pop opera (like Ken Russell's 'Tommy', with a touch of Julien Temple's 'The Great Rock'n'Roll Swindle'), shot through with the wry humour that has always characterised the Mael brothers' music. Yet at the heart of its swirling strangeness lies something of real truth and beauty that left me unexpectedly crying at the sight of a marionette levitating above a vast crowd, operatically warbling her fairy-tale lament" – Mark Kermode, Guardian.

A cracker... or not? Well Leos Carax won Best Director at Cannes for it; come along and see what you think!