It’s hard, isn’t it, when something you love so much can only be consumed in a format that you detest, like experiencing Paris through Emily in Paris, or visiting L.A to eat In-N-Out. Trade-offs, I suppose, are a part of life.
My specific problem today has to do with needing to watch Adam Driver in everything but having to sometimes do this in ways I would rather not. Once upon a time, this meant seeing Star Wars in theaters, and today it means watching a musical.
The musical in question doesn’t sound so bad: Annette, starring the world’s only French actress, Marion Cotillard, and Adam Driver, tells the story of a stand-up comedian and his wife, a world-famous singer. The film’s July 6 premiere was announced by the Cannes Film Festival’s Twitter account in French, but unfortunately for me, the movie is director Leos Carax’s English-language debut, which means I will understand all of the sung words.
A trailer accompanied Cannes’s still of Driver in a motorcycle helmet doing an almost-kiss with Cotillard. It’s not super clear what’s happening in it, outside of boy meets girl and they have what, eerily, appears to be an inanimate doll for a child. Nevertheless, set to Driver’s rumbling voiceover, it promises Across The Universe–level drama and heartbreak and … singing:
Thankfully, this isn’t the only Adam Driver performance I have to look forward to — House of Gucci with Lady Gaga, aka the best film of the century, will be coming out this fall. And, if all else fails, I can just rewatch Marriage Story, in which Driver plays another husband whose ego is felled by his more famous and capable wife.