French filmmaker Leos Carax's Annette, his first film entirely in English, follows the improbable relationship between two highly prosperous show business performers: standup comic Henry McHenry (Adam Driver) and French opera singer Ann Defrasnoux (Marion Cotillard). The Hollywood press dubs them "Beauty and the Bastard," which is not ironic because Henry is a mean drunk. Carax and songwriters/screenwriters Ron and Russell Mael (better known as the band Sparks) prove to be a perfect match as artists who charge in the direction of their creative ideas. Driver transforms throughout the film, not just in his shortening hair length, but from a toxic man to someone completely falling apart. Annette is a roller coaster that's never boring.