Annette (2021)
Directed by Leos Carax
No — Annette is not especially woke, scoring 24 out of 100 on our wokeness meter.
Leos Carax opens Annette with his cast stepping out of character to ask permission to begin, which is as good a warning as any that we are in for a rock opera about a comedian, an opera singer, and a wooden puppet child.
Consciousness Markers
The 'Six Accuser Chorus' of women who come forward with abuse allegations against Henry is a transparent #MeToo gesture, and the film frames the male artist's ego and exploitation of his wife and daughter as destructive.
The film critiques the commodification of Annette's miraculous gift into a profitable stage act and the machinery of celebrity, though this is filtered through surrealist opera rather than explicit economic polemic.
The #MeToo accuser chorus and child-exploitation themes carry a mild didactic charge, but Carax buries them in avant-garde rock-opera spectacle rather than direct moralizing.
The cast is notably international (French, German, Belgian, Japanese performers), but this reflects the film's European co-production and surrealist ensemble rather than any deliberate diversity-driven casting mandate.
There are no LGBTQ+ characters, relationships, or themes anywhere in the film's narrative or subtext.
Despite a multiethnic cast, the film engages no racial themes, commentary, or consciousness whatsoever.
The storm at sea is a dramatic plot device for Ann's death, not an environmental or climate-themed statement.
No body-positivity themes or messaging are present.
No neurodivergence themes or characters are present.
The film is a wholly original surrealist fiction with no historical subject matter to revise.
Why it received this score
Leos Carax opens Annette with his cast stepping out of character to ask permission to begin, which is as good a warning as any that we are in for a rock opera about a comedian, an opera singer, and a wooden puppet child. Adam Driver sings. Marion Cotillard sings. The puppet floats. The ensemble is a genuinely international affair, drawing performers from France, Belgium, Germany, Japan, and Mexico, though this reflects the tangled co-production credits and Carax's appetite for a surrealist crowd more than any casting brief. Nobody in the film remarks on it. Nobody in the film remarks on much of anything except their own misery.
The social consciousness on display is modest and arrives dressed as spectacle. Six women appear as a chorus of accusers, leveling abuse allegations at Henry in a dream sequence that maps cleanly onto the recent reckoning with male artists and their appetites. The film watches a husband resent his wife's success, exploit his daughter's miraculous voice, and convert both into product, which carries a faint whiff of the marketplace's cruelty toward women and children. None of this is argued. It is sung, at volume, while a puppet rises above the Hyperbowl halftime show.
Beyond that, the film keeps its distance from the cultural preoccupations of its moment. There is no racial commentary despite the multiethnic faces on screen. There is no queerness, no body politics, no neurodivergence, no climate anxiety, and no history to revise, because Carax is not working from history. The storm that drowns Ann is weather, not a warning. Everything else stays abstract. A sermon delivered in an unfamiliar language, sincere and largely unintelligible, which may be the most honest way to stage a moral in 2021.
Analysis generated by our Consciousness Algorithm
Synopsis
In present-day Los Angeles, controversial stand-up comedian Henry McHenry and internationally renowned opera singer Ann Defrasnoux form the façade of a happy couple in the spotlight. Ann gives birth to a baby girl named Annette, who possesses an exceptional gift that will change all of their lives forever.
Questions about Annette
Is Annette woke?
No — Annette is not especially woke, scoring 24 out of 100 on our wokeness meter. That earns it a verdict of Based.
Does Annette have any woke elements?
2 of the 10 markers register at 30 or above, led by Feminist Agenda (45) and Eat the Rich (30). On Feminist Agenda: The 'Six Accuser Chorus' of women who come forward with abuse allegations against Henry is a transparent #MeToo gesture, and the film frames the male artist's ego and exploitation of his wife and daughter as destructive.
How does Annette compare to other 2021 movies?
It ranks #83 of the 242 films from 2021 we've scored; their average is 23. The wokest is The Forever Purge (83).
How is the Woke Score calculated?
An AI-assisted process researches the film and its reception, scores it 0–100 on ten markers, then combines those into one 0–100 Woke Score. It measures a specific set of 2020s cultural themes, not film quality.