When I saw that Adam Driver and Marion Cotlillard were on the cast list of Annette and that it was some type of musical I was intrigued. While Annette is filled to the brim with artistic ambition and the exploration of a number of themes through allegory, they miss more than they hit their mark. 

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Henry (Adam Driver) a provocative stand-up comedian with a fierce sense of humour, falls in love with Ann (Marion Cotillard), a world-famous soprano. In the spotlight, they are the perfect couple, healthy, happy, and glamourous. However, their lives take an unexpected turn when their daughter, Annette, is born. A mysterious girl with an exceptional gift that will turn their lives upside down.

Perhaps Annette just isn’t for me - even though I see hundreds of films from the artistic and independent to the most decadent blockbuster. Perhaps I just don’t get it. Possible. Apart from the opening number which grabbed my attention by the scruff of the neck because of its oddity, the film began to descend into an ever increasing abstract state that even someone like myself with a degree in theology (trained to look beneath multiple layers for meaning) couldn’t really see the point. 

While I applaud the lofty artistic ambition, there wasn’t much narratively that was definitive in the structure or themes of the story. Also the characters were merely one dimensional and inaccessible with Driver’s nearly consistent one note singing beginning to get tiresome. 

While Annette is filled to the brim with artistic ambition and the exploration of a number of themes through allegory, they miss more than they hit their mark.

★★