“Annette” “Variations” deeply connected to the life of Leos Carax *Note! Contains spoilers.

musical as riot

A recent screening in Paris entitled "Carte Blanche to Leos Carax" featured Jacques Demy's Room in the City (1982), a musical depicting a workers' strike in Nantes. Not only does the green jacket worn by the red-haired, red-bearded Michel Piccoli recall Mr. Merd, played by Denis Lavant in Tokyo! (2008), or Henry in Annette, but the work also reveals the unconscious origins of riots, tragedies and choreography for large groups of workers.

Not only the opening scene in the street, which is shot in a pseudo-guerilla style like "Annette," but also the crowd scene at the airport where the Annette whirlwind hits, and the scene where Henry is hurled abuse after being arrested... these scenes make it hard not to feel the intention of a variation on the musical film, a "musical film in a riot," so to speak.

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Furthermore, when Henry discovers Annette singing in the crib bathed in light, the image overlaps with the nightmare vision (shadows running across the ceiling) of the unrequited lover in "A Room in the City." At the same time, this magical scene is somewhat reminiscent of the tap dancing of Mireille (Mireille Perrier) that the protagonist imagines in the darkness of the night in " Boy Meets Girl " (1983). The vision of stars. It could be called the "universe" that the baby sees from the crib. It is also varied in the scene where Anne, the mother, soothes Annette on the ship. Behind the mother and child, a sense of premonition of fear is expressed, as if a toy has started to dance on its own.

In terms of "musical as riot", the media that stalks the two big stars, Henry and Anne, is similarly choreographed. The cameramen, dancing from every angle to get a scoop, firmly demand Henry take off his helmet. Henry continues to act silly, never removing his "mask". Ignoring the noisy world outside, the two speed away on their motorbikes. As if to shake off all ties, they sing a theme song just for the two of them. "Masked" Henry says that he has killed people with laughter. Anne says that she has saved people by acting out death. The relationship between the two is like a causal relationship. This is where the important theme of the film emerges.

the scars of being thrown out