ANNETTE

 Adam Driver     Marion Cotilliard     Simon Helberg

            Unless they’ve already heard a significant amount about it, Annette is likely to take viewers by surprise.  It’s surreal in its drama and characterization; audiences interact  in unison and sometimes in song with the comedian; music by the pop and rock duo, the Sparks brothers (who are the writers as well) is quirky in their well-known style; and the whole production is unlike almost any of the American musicals.  

            Henry (Driver) and Ann (Cotilliard) fall madly in love shortly after meeting.  It’s an unlikely pairing in that he is a stand-up comedian called “Ape God” and she is an opera singer.  His routines are odd with a mixture of subjects that are meant to shock the audience, although there are always some who laugh.  One of the first signs of the significance of his feelings are his many references to Ann’s popularity and that in her roles she often dies in the end.  Very soon after their meeting, Ann is pregnant, and it looks like they will be happily making their way into a conventional family.  The birth of the child is remarkable and funny, in a way, in that it is accompanied by the singing of the doctor and nurses…and Henry.

            But things happen.  Unusual things.  And then more unusual things.  We wonder if this romantic unit will manage to survive.  

            The actors are well cast, and Cotilliard has a beautiful, pure voice that is soothing when the action is rough.  She is also a fine actor.  Adam Driver portrays his character in his usual convincing way; he is also a fine actor, and although it is clear he is not a trained singer, his voice is acceptable, using mostly a recitative style effectively.

            The Sparks’ music is sometimes lyrical—especially when the chorus is commenting on the drama—pointed in its references, and droll at other times.  Ron and Russell Mael have done a remarkable job in designing a plot with music that is full of surprises and suspense, along with the entertaining quirkiness.  By the end, references made in the beginning make sense in retrospect, with life lessons learned.

            Leos Carax (best known for Holy Motors) has taken the Sparks’ material and directed the production with sensitivity and an eye for timing and successfully producing an unconventional movie that, in the end, has substance.  It is slow at times, and some editing and shortening would have improved it.

            Annette is not a film for everyone, but for those of us appreciating the quirky and unusual, it quite satisfies.

 

An unlikely pairing of an opera singer with a droll comedian that somehow works.

 

Grade:  B                              By Donna R. Copeland

            

FLORENCE FOSTER JENKINS

Meryl Streep     Hugh Grant     Simon Helberg

              Stephen Frears has created a farce about a woman who is tone-deaf, but imagines she can sing beautifully—something someone might see on television’s “The Voice”, actually.  But the difference here is that thousands are taking part in her delusion in a folie à deux-mille.  Granted, at one concert it requires a brassy woman from Brooklyn to whistle at everyone who’s laughing, and make them shush and listen with respect.  This is one of the finest moments in the movie when she makes clear what the film is about:  That matching Florence’s own generosity and warm-heartedness should be returned in full.  This film is based on a true story in which a wealthy woman insists on giving concerts when she has no talent.  But she was surrounded by her people—some who were sycophants and some who genuinely cared for her—and we’re told at the end of the film that the recordings made by Foster Jenkins are some of the most requested from the Carnegie Hall Archives.  So the woman’s popularity is not made up.  I think this is the only instance in movies I’ve seen that generosity and warm-heartedness trumps critical opinion and analysis.  (Bravo! Florence Foster Jenkins!)

         For someone who can really sing, pulling off an off-key performance must be extremely difficult, but of course the ever-talented Meryl Streep has no problem.  As Florence, she screeches, whinnies, and groans like the worst of them (bad singers)—all with an earnest face and magnanimous heart.  I understand from one of her interviews that she actually had to learn to sing the arias the right way before she began to sing them purposefully off key.  She and Hugh Grant make a loving pair in a union with perhaps the same level of denial that is shown toward her voice:  Of course, it’s perfect!  They play the two characters like the old pros they are.

              Almost as much of a star in this film as Streep is Simon Helberg, who plays the role of pianist for Foster Jenkins.  His facial expressions are something to behold, from the time he first hears Florence sing to the end when disbelief and feeling aghast evolves into surrender and love.  We laugh at his horror about as much as we laugh at Streep’s voice.

        Earlier this year, I saw another rendition of the Florence Foster Jenkins story (Marguerite, a French-Czech-Belgium production directed by Xavier Giannoli and starring Catherine Frot.)  Frears has clearly gone for more of a comedic touch—a hearty laugh compared with Giannoli’s smile.  I like both treatments—they make for interesting contrasts—but in both I wearied of listening to the grating sounds that come from the actress’s voices.  Is there anything worse than bad singing of operatic arias? 

Allow yourself to be drawn into a delusion.

Grade:  B                                    By Donna R. Copeland