The Film Experience

TFE is thrilled to have a correspondent on the ground in Cannes this year. Please welcome back Elisa Giudici.

by Elisa Guidici

It's my first day of my first year as a press pass holder at Cannes Film Festival. Let me tell you that as an Italian, I am so proud of how Venice Mostra handled their Covid-19 edition last season. Cannes had an extra year to plan how to be efficient, safe and as Covid-free as possible. How did the organisation spent these months?.The ticketing system to avoid long queues before screenings? A hot mess. The website? Almost always down. Covid tests? Bizzarre, but at least free for pass holders...

You are required to spit 1 ml of your own saliva into a small container every 48 hours. If test results don't arrive via email, you have to return to the test area and kindly ask them to print the results for you. The queue outside Palais? Still there, in order to check the results of the test before entering the screening. A small but important detail: in France it is not mandatory to wear a mask outside anymore... I'll leave the rest to your imagination.

At least summer in the French Rivera is as spectacular as expected. On my first day the temptation to leave the pass at home and go swimming in the blue Mediterranean was strong. The curiosity of seeing Adam Driver singing proved stronger.

Annette
Adam Driver is a tremendous actor but a mediocre singer. I was annoyed to see the (usual) power of his acting undermined by his vocal limitations and terrible jokes written by Carax (watch out for the one about babysitting, which is already a strong contender for "the worst scene in the 74th edition of Cannes"). Annette is a love story and a musical: in both scenarios, Carax is unsure how to procede. He tries to ridicule the musical genre's worst tropes, but the movies falls right into the genre's conventions.

Driver's character, the stand up comedian Henry, is presented as a man consumed by his own toxic masculinity, hurting people around him in such a crescendo that it felt dishonest. Carax addresses the #MeToo movement and appears ready to deliver a gritty take on it, but Henry proves too perfect an embodiment of the manipulative man who is unable to handle love that there is no surprise or risk in turning him into a symbol of the dark side of masculinity. It is too a safe choice for a director like Carax.

More complex and powerful is the depiction of fatherhood. The movie is dedicated to Carax's daughter Nastya. She also makes a brief appearances as herself at the very beginning of Annette, where the titular character is a daughter with a strange appearance and a miraculous gift. The film suggests that being a father was and maybe is not an easy role to play for Carax.

I expected a sort of deconstructed La La Land with Annette: a french musical about a love story between two ambitious people in LA, but with Carax's impressive vision of cinema and human nature. It remembered me of Vox Lux instead: good ideas, strong scenes, but a lack of a clear direction.

Elisa Giudici, reporting from Cannes, is originally from Somewhere in Northern Italy since 1987. Cinemagoer, everyday reviewer, SFF & book lover. [Official Site (Italian) | Letterboxd]