I absolutely love huge chunks of this (most of the first hour and the ending especially) but man does this drag on forever, to the point where its many charms soon become annoyances. The performances are fantastic though (even though the singing can be described as adequate at best) and Carax is one of the few major filmmakers around today who understands the power of artifice and the uncanny. His wide array of influences and stylistic tricks make the film seem playful and always evolving, navigating the stormy tonal shifts and sudden musical bursts with relative ease. The fact that they didn't even try to make the Annette doll look like a real human being is absolutely hilarious.