“Annette” review: Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard star in a musical that falls flat

Nonetheless, what follows essentially abuses the musical format, having characters who are half talking, half singing their thoughts and feelings in a stilted song, and using other surreal devices that turn out to be less transporting than just irritating.

It doesn’t help that there is a familiar “A Star is Born” dynamic built into the story, which centers around the unlikely relationship between a provocative comedian, Driver’s Henry McHenry, and opera diva, Ann ( Cotillard). There isn’t much of a connection between the two, but they must be in love, because they sing “We Love Each Other So Much” even in the middle of sex.

As the fictional entertainment news program Showbizz News explains, when the film begins, the two stars are “at the peak of their careers,” making their engagement and marriage catnip for the paparazzi (who, like the audience of Henry’s concerts, they sing awkwardly). Soon, however, the two welcome a baby girl, Annette, at which point their bond begins to deteriorate, Henry’s career declining as Ann’s one rises.