Annette is a film that by all means should not work. It's messy, uneven, and for every one of its intriguing ideas there's another that doesn't quite stick, and yet, I inexplicably found myself continually transfixed while watching it. Whenever it seems like its about to lose me, it quickly ropes me back in, and a lot of that has to do with the way in which both Carax and the performers absolutely sell the material, imbuing just about every scene with equal degrees of wonder and gravitas. Although Carax has other works that I think are better overall, it's nonetheless refreshing to see a movie this artistically daring in 2021.