In case you haven't heard of it yet, Annette is a TRULY WILD new movie from Amazon Studios. It stars Adam Driver as stand-up comic Henry and Marion Cotillard as Ann, Henry's opera singer wife. To say this movie is ~weird~ would be an understatement, and fair warning, it is 1,000% not going to be everyone's cup of tea.
The story and music are by Ron and Russell Mael — aka the very cool band known as Sparks — which, if you know them, should give you a sense of what you're in for. But the movie is wacky, melodramatic, and honestly very unique, and here are a bunch of things that actually happen...
Fair warning, mild spoilers ahead!
1. As mentioned, Adam Driver plays a stand-up comic named Henry. He has a schtick where he wears a green bathrobe while doing his routine.
2. And Marion Cotillard plays a world-famous opera singer named Ann, which is kind of ironic because the whole movie plays out like a tragic opera.
3. Adam Driver gets shirtless A LOT during the movie (which I'm sure many of you will appreciate)...
4. ...and you even get to see his naked butt.
5. Speaking of naked people, Henry and Ann have a semi-awkward sex scene where they're passionately singing to each other while doing it.
6. Henry and Ann eventually have a baby named Annette that's played by a marionette for like 99% of the movie.
7. A dreamy nursery lamp inspires baby Annette to start singing...
8. ...and her voice is so pretty (and eerily like her mother's) that it inspires Henry to take baby Annette on a world tour of her own.
9. At one point, Annette actually begins to fly/float during her performances, which is totally unexplained.
10. And baby Annette is literally flown out into a stadium of thousands of adoring fans by drones. YES, A "BABY" IS FLOWN AROUND BY DRONES.
11. There's a highly dramatic scene on a boat out in the middle of the ocean that looks like something straight out of The Perfect Storm.
12. Ann turns into a kind of sea ghost with pointy shoulders and long, witch-like hair.
13. Simon Helberg — aka Howard from The Big Bang Theory — plays a piano accompanist turned conductor...
14. ...and he actually has a scene-stealing number where he sings and continually interrupts himself while conducting an orchestra.
15. The marionette Annette kinda, sorta, IDK, I guess?! turns into a human child near the end of the movie.
16. And finally, the opening and closing of the movie have full-on musical numbers involving the entire cast and crew, and it's all very meta.
Intrigued? Annette is in select theaters now and available on Amazon Prime Video starting Aug. 20. Watch the trailer here:
