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Stand-up comedian Henry McHenry (Adam Driver) and opera singer Ann (Marion Cotillard) are the celebrity couple, so when they have a daughter, Annette, all the world's abuzz, even if the kid looks remarkably like a doll - but the clouds soon darken over the lovers as 6 women (Angèle, Julia Bullock, Claron McFadden, Natalie Mendoza, Kiko Mizuara, Noémie Schellens) suddenly step forward alleging sexual misconduct on Henry's behalf - so he and Ann and Annette embark on a cruise on their yacht. Henry and Ann get into an argument during a thunderstorm, and he accidently pushes her overboard, and not willing to abandon his daughter fails to do anything to save her. So she thinks it's a good idea to curse him by giving Annette her singing voice. But Henry feels far from cursed and instead fetches Ann's piano accompanist (Simon Helberg) and takes Annette on tour, as a doll-like two year old with an opera-ready singing voice is pretty much a guaranteed cash cow. But of course, tension soon arise as the accompanist feels he and the girl are more exploited while Henry rakes in the big buck. And he even leaves Annette more and more in the care of the accompanist. But trouble starts brewing when the accompanist alleges that he and not Henry might be the actual father of the child. And Ann from the beyond hasn't finished dishing out her revenge to Henry yet, either ...

A pop musical conceptualized by pop duo Sparks and put onto the screen by Leos Carax, this film looks gorgeous, it's beautifully directed, is well acted, and features some pretty decent music - but really falls flat in most other respects. Basically the story feels a little underwhelming, and would have made for a good short but just drags at 140 minutes. What's more though, one never gets emotionally invested into the characters, and the characters themselves actually feel terribly bland. Thus whatever happens to them comes out of nowhere, doesn't in any way correspond with let alone serve their arc. Actually it seems nothing is worked upon narratively, everything just happens for the sake of another setpiece, and then these setpieces often lack any depth, are little but pretty images, carried by often pretty much vapid lyrics. And that all said, I don't want to just trash the movie, as it looks very lovely and one has to at least like its attitude, it's just that the film's 100% style and zero substance.

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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