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Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard star in Leos Carax’s (Holy Motors, MIFF 2012; The Lovers on the Bridge, MIFF 2012) bizarre, brazen musical – the Best Director–winning Cannes film on everyone’s lips.

Ann (Cotillard) is a sublime opera superstar; Henry (Driver) is an angry stand-up comedian adored for his bitter banter. This unlikely couple are profoundly, deliriously in love, but the unique gifts of their unusual daughter Annette expose something uglier and more consuming at the heart of their relationship.

French romantic anarchist Carax was the subject of a 2012 MIFF spotlight; now, he returns to delight and provoke audiences by way of a riotous deconstruction of the movie musical, with script and songs by Ron and Russell Mael of cult-favourite band Sparks. Annette opened this year’s Cannes, where its blend of visual sophistication and intensely populist genre play made it the festival’s most talked-about film. You’ll be seduced. You’ll be surprised. You’ll be profoundly gobsmacked.

“A forthright and declamatory and crazy spectacle, teetering over the cliff edge of its own nervous breakdown … It’s a swoon of anxiety and rapture.” – The Guardian