Annette (Leos Carax, 2021)

[pistolwink]

It just occured to me that -- although it may be a little impolitic to say so -- one of the ways this film differs from several of Carax's earlier films, is that by every account he didn't have a close relationship this time with his lead actors. It's difficult to think of Mauvais sang or Les Amants du Pont Neuf without thinking of those luminous, intense close-ups borne of Carax's love for Binoche and his identification with Levant; the same goes for Golubeva in Pola X. Certainly Marion Cotillard's scenes in Annette don't evoke that sort of almost-uncomfortable level of fascination.

I say impolitic because the way that Carax spoke about his lead actresses in the past, and the way he treated them at times, would run afoul of #metoo-era norms -- to put it mildly. I remember reading an article nearly 20 years ago, when Carax was preparing a project called Scars, about his pursuit (in multiple senses) of the Taiwanese actress Shu Qi. She recalled his telling her that sleeping with him was a requirement for having the lead in his film -- simply because Carax couldn't possibly make a movie without being in love with his lead actress. At the time I think I took this as Carax burnishing his reputation as an cinematic enfant terrible without a filter — this was the era of the "new French extremity," remember, and shortly after Pola X with its explicit sex scenes. But it's hard now not to think Carax is/was (among other things) a lech. But the interview seems to have disappeared, and his reputation never took any kind of hit that I know of. (Cf. Golubeva's ex, Sharunas Bartas.)

This is a cliché I would usually recoil from, but Annette doesn't feel as heedless and dangerous as Pola X or Les Amants. There's a lot of reasons why that could be the case, but I can't help but thinking that Carax's relatively professional relationship w/ his leads this time out might have something to do with it.

[The Curious Sofa]

I haven't read anything about Carax having been involved with one of the actors starring in Holy Motors. That's the only film of his I've seen which I genuinely loved so far (I haven't watched Annette yet)

[pistolwink]

Well, I don't know about "involved with," but Carax has a long history of working with Denis Levant, and openly described him as a kind of avatar for himself. There's clearly an intense bond there.

[swo17]

I thought Curious Sofa might have meant romantically

[The Curious Sofa]

I thought Curious Sofa might have meant romantically

That indeed is the case as pistolwink implied there is something missing from his films if Carax doesn't sleep with the leading lady.

[pistolwink]

Not precisely—although that is what Carax himself implied (in a notably skeevy way) in the now-scrubbed article I mention above. (There is some trace on the Web of Carax having met with Shu Qi, but nothing about the anecdote I recall above.)

I think it's a little bigger than that. Even if we assume that Carax didn't have a romantic interest in Denis Lavant, there's certainly a passionate identification there. The way Carax spoke of Lavant was remarkably intimate, both in terms of the latter serving as a cinematic avatar for the former and the nature of their collaboration. That's what I was speculating may have been missing from Annette: a "history" of intense involvement with his performers. It's a dynamic that, as I tried to point out above, had (or has) its exploitative side.

I don't know that I'd characterize Annette as "missing something" in a pejorative sense, necessarily. It's just that the film had a different feel (for me) as his 35mm features. But again, there are lots of other things that might account for what I perceived to be the more distanced quality of Annette... Carax is getting older... it's not a story he was as deeply invested in.... Or it could just be the difference between watching Mauvais sang in my 20s and Annette in my 40s.

[Persona]

Hoo boy, I did not like this.

I'd articulate more but everything I want to say is sounding so disdainful in my head, I'd rather not go there with a filmmaker I respect and admire. HOLY MOTORS is a top movie of the millennium for me. It hurts to hate this new one.

I guess, at the end of the day, neither the tone, nor the content, nor the form of ANNETTE was for me.

Driver was good in the last scene. And, of course, Carax is never wanting for bold ideas. But, man...

[Red Screamer]

Adrian Martin's rave. I'm witholding my opinion on this until I have a chance to see it again. But in terms of Carax's career, it's fascinating to see him revisit story ideas and themes from his early works in a different perspective and style. In some ways Annette becomes a self-critique, taking apart the Romantic ideals of tortured love and artist-outcasts that he used to believe in. It's clear now that the switch to digital remade Carax into a new kind of filmmaker, with Pola X as the uncomfortable transition work between his exuberent youth and his morbid middle-age.

Re: the discussion upthread...

SpoilerShow

There's no question in my mind that Driver is meant to physically resemble Carax in the final scene. How one goes about interpreting that, though, is a bit more dicey.

[Calvin]

There's a 4K UHD release coming out in Germany in April, which will presumably be the only one in the world unless Criterion surprise.

[Rrobynne]

He didn't write Pola X either (which this resembles in many ways), or at least it was adapted from Melville, but its hard not to draw parallels between the characters and events in Pola X and well-documented incidents from Carax's own life. Same with this. Obviously, playing the autobiog/a clef game is always a bit hazardous. I read somewhere (though I don't recall where) that Carax was at first reluctant to take on this project as he feared people would make too many comparisons between the Maels' story and his own life. Of course, he doesn't help matters by featuring his own daughter and dedicating the film to her. And a few people have suggested that Driver has been made to resemble Carax in the final scenes (don't QUITE see it myself, but I can be convinced).

Having seen the now-leaked 3-hour TV cut of Pola X, the comparison between the autobiographical (or maybe something like 'auto-thematic' would be a more accurate term) aspect of Pola X and of Annette is more resonant.

SpoilerShow

I don't really want to say precisely why even within a spoiler tag, but what I will say is there's a visual change to the final scene in the longer cut that appears to be directly referenced at the end of Annette.