Annette (Leos Carax, 2021) | 2026 French Film Festival

Location: Rubenstein Arts Center Film Theater

Screening as part of the 2026 French Film Festival

Jan 29 - Feb 13, 2026


Annette
(Leos Carax, 2021, 139 min, France, English, DCP)

-- Introduced by Prof. Anne-Gaëlle Saliot (Romance Studies/Cinematic Arts); Q&A to follow

A years-spanning musical melodrama drenched in greens and yellows, scored by oddball art-pop duo Sparks and based on their original story, Annette marks the French director’s first English-language film, which revolves around a celebrity couple in present-day Los Angeles. Henry (Adam Driver), a towering stand-up comedian, and Ann (Marion Cotillard), a world-famous singer, are living life happily in the spotlight until their world is upended after the birth of their first child, Annette, a mysterious little girl with a peculiar talent. Carax imbues his sixth feature with grandiose compositions, an exhilarating sense of movement, and a turbulent emotional register—alternately moody, beguiling, effusive, and hilarious—all the while toying with established genres in the most thrilling ways imaginable.

Winner for Best Director at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival

Annette is a ride like no other, a spellbinding waltz in a storm.” – Empire Magazine

Annette is remarkable. It's an exhilarating collision of cinema, live concerts, stage shows, and celebrity culture, shaken up and let loose with abandon.” – Polygon

“In its mix of angsty formalism and sing-along fun, Annette may be the closest that musical cinema has come to when Brecht and Weill put a knife in Macheath's hand for The Threepenny Opera.” 
Austin Chronicle


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Screen/Society screenings are free and open to the public.

Parking Info:  https://artscenter.duke.edu/parking

COVID-19 Info: https://cinematicarts.duke.edu/covid-19-information

Annette Still

Contact: Hank Okazaki

Email: hokazak@duke.edu

Sponsor: Center for French and Francophone Studies

Co-Sponsors: Albertine Cinemathèque, a program of FACE Foundation and Villa Albertine; Office of the Dean of Arts & Sciences, Romance Studies, Art, Art History & Visual Studies, and Duke Cinematic Arts