Cannes 2021: Sparks Fly As Annette Geeks Out Film Festival

Annette is the first of 24 films vying for the Palme d'Or, the festival's top prize

Annette, the musical brainchild of enigmatic director Leos Carax and geeky pop duo Sparks, opens Cannes on Tuesday, with lead Adam Driver telling AFP he will sneak off during the screening to avoid seeing himself act. Driver, best-known for his roles in TV show Girls and the Star Wars franchise, features alongside France's Marion Cotillard in a rollercoaster production tracing the rise and fall of a celebrity couple. It's a film that brings together the supremely gifted and the socially awkward as the stars sing their way through a story that began as an idea by Ron and Russell Mael, the eccentric Los Angeles pop duo Sparks. But as an eager crowd climbs the Cannes steps on opening night for the first major post-pandemic film festival, one man will be heading for the exit.