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Annette | 2021 | R | – 7.6.8
Why is “Annette” rated R? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “sexual content including some nudity, and for language.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes several sex scenes with male and female nudity, a scene of childbirth, two murders by drowning, theatrical deaths performed on stage, several arguments, and at least 34 F-words and other strong language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.
Musical drama about the heartbreaking love affair between a stand-up comedian (Adam Driver) and an opera singer (Marion Cotillard), who have a child (Devyn McDowell) that seems to possess fantastical talents, discovered after a family tragedy. Also with Simon Helberg. Directed by Leos Carax. Several lines of dialogue are spoken in French with English subtitles. [Running Time: 2:19]
Annette SEX/NUDITY 7
– A woman wears a slip and a shirtless man lifts her up and puts her on a bed where we then see her fully nude with her hands over her bare breasts (we see cleavage, abdomen and thighs) as the man performs oral sex on her (we see his head between her bare thighs) and she writhes. A fully nude man (we see the side of his hip, partial chest and abdomen) is covering a fully nude woman’s bare breasts with his hands (we see her cleavage, bare abdomen, legs and partial buttocks) as he thrusts from behind; they kiss and moan. A man performs oral sex on a woman and we see her bare breasts, abdomen and legs to the hips.
► A husband and his wife lie in bed together and the man tosses and turns (we see that he is fully nude and his bare chest, abdomen, buttocks, legs to the hips, and upper genital area are seen). A man goes into a nightclub where many women wearing low-cut and short dresses dance and hold onto his arms as he moves through.
► A man comes out of the bathroom wearing a bathrobe with the hood over his head and he tickles a woman’s feet and then licks them as she laughs and playfully struggles to get away from him; they wrestle briefly and kiss. A man and a woman kiss tenderly. A man and a woman walk hand-in-hand. A man and woman sing about being in love.
► A woman sings a song about many men being on a woman’s doorstep. A man talks about having had an affair with a woman and that he still loves her.
► Singers on stage during a stand-up show wear low-cut and tight-fitting dresses that reveal cleavage and the outlines of their breasts and hips. A woman wears a low-cut dress that reveals cleavage and her legs at the knees. A man on stage in stand-up comedy shows wears a robe that is untied and reveals his bare chest, abdomen, boxer shorts and legs to the upper thighs; he removes the robe in one show and pulls down his boxers to reveal the upper part of his bare buttocks. A woman wearing what looks like a full slip (we see her cleavage and bare legs to the upper thighs) lies on a floor stretching before a performance. A woman is shown with a pregnant belly in a couple of scenes. A woman wears a swimsuit that reveals cleavage and bare legs to the hips. A woman wears a towel that reveals her bare shoulders and cleavage. A woman’s legs to the thighs are shown in a delivery room while she is in labor. A man in a public restroom fastens his pants (no nudity is shown). A woman’s long dress appears sheer and what looks like pubic hair is shown briefly (it could be a pattern on the fabric) along with the outline of her breasts and buttocks.
Annette VIOLENCE/GORE 6
– A yacht is tossed around in heavy waves during a storm; a man and woman fight on deck, the woman falls overboard, the man walks away as the woman calls for help and we see him and a child in a dinghy rowing to shore and the has a cut on her forehead through the rest of the film. A man shoves another man near a swimming pool, they struggle and argue, one man falls into the pool and the other holds him underwater, punches him and holds him until he drowns. A man rides home on his motorcycle and says he feels a little drunk (the motorcycle falls over when he gets off).
► A montage shows a woman dying in a variety of ways (theatrically): she is stabbed, strangled, dies in a fire and from an illness or poisoning. Several women file reports about a man’s violence, anger and abuse. A man swings a microphone on a cable and throws it into an audience where it breaks a glass on a table and a man falls back out of his chair. A man rides a motorcycle with a young girl in his lap. A man imagines his dead wife in bed with him in several scenes and he screams in one scene. People outside a police transport van yell and pound on the windows; others hold signs and yell as a man in handcuffs is walked into jail.
► A man performs an extended piece about having murdered his wife and he acts out what happened; he says that she asked him for sex and that he startled to tickle her to change the subject and he tickled her to death (he lies still on the stage, then pantomimes CPR and screams when it doesn’t work); the crowd jeers him and yells that he is sick. A man imagines an infant born with clown makeup on its face. A man cuts a newborn’s umbilical cord after delivery. A woman imagines a man on a motorcycle speeding toward her in a car and wakes up with a start. A man yells at another man about a song his young child is singing.
► A ghost of a woman with blue tinged flesh, long fingernails and long hair that looks like seaweed moves through a few scenes and in one scene she sings about haunting her husband. A character is accused of killing people. A young girl sings on a stage and floats into the air. A woman on a stage looks frightened, quivers and breathes deeply during a performance and we see her dying in the show a few times (she has stage blood on her dress). A woman walks barefoot through woods in the dark and sings about being frightened and needing help. An infant is placed on a woman’s lap after delivery and the child is in heavy shadow with a glowing abdomen and unusually shaped ears; we see the child later and throughout most of the film represented as a doll and a marionette and the parents sing that the child is “out of this world.” A man says, “My star is in decline.” A man talks about travelling the world with his young daughter.
► A man walks out of a smoke-filled passage and onto a stage and he coughs and gags deeply and he jokes that it would have been better to be laughing gas or cyanide gas. A man pretends to hang himself using the cable to a microphone in a couple of scenes. A man tells a joke and says, “Everybody hates the Jews.” A man jokes about wanting to tell the truth without being killed; gunshots ring out and the man falls on stage (he is not actually shot). A man says that during his show, he “killed, murdered and destroyed” the audience. A man comes out of the bathroom wearing a bathrobe with the hood over his head and he tickles a woman’s feet then licks them as she laughs and playfully struggles to get away from him and they wrestle briefly and kiss. A man smokes a cigarette and drinks whiskey in several scenes while taking care of a newborn and young child; in one scene he imagines having sat on the child. A man makes a joke about someone breaking into his house and stealing all his jokes. A man says that he is tired of making sad people laugh. A man lies in a crib holding a toddler and the man’s legs stick out through the rails.
► We hear reports of wildfires in California. Photographers take pictures of a man and a woman, and call out questions to the couple and yell for the man to remove his motorcycle helmet. An introductory sequence includes a voice over instructing the audience that they must hold their breath during the show. An introduction to a stand-up comedy show invites the audience to enjoy a “mildly offensive evening.” A man jokes about causing people to laugh to death. A man squeezes an overly ripe banana in his hand.
Annette LANGUAGE 8
– About 34 F-words and its derivatives, 5 sexual references, 4 scatological terms (1 in French without translation), 8 anatomical terms, 2 mild obscenities, name-calling (disgusting, deceitful, self-deprecating, plain and plump, dirty, wicked, bold, sick, wreck, ape of gods, idiotic, you bore me, horrid, murderer, rich and drunk, cynics, tragic, bastard, counterintuitive, balding men, loathsome insect, illiterates, foolish), exclamations (shut-up, what’s your problem), 1 religious profanity (GD), 9 religious exclamations (e.g. Act Of God, Oh My God, So Help You God, God Knows, I Have Sinned, Voice Of A Goddess, Ape Of Gods). | profanity glossary |
Annette SUBSTANCE USE
– A man drinks and smokes in bed in several scenes and he takes an unidentified pill. A man slurps loudly from a glass of whiskey on a stage during a stand-up comedy show, photos show a man and a woman holding glasses of whiskey, a man drinks several small bottles of liquor on several plane flights, a wife accuses her husband of being very drunk one evening in a heavy storm on a yacht, two men drink whiskey and wine and one man also smokes, a man drinks from a decanter of whiskey, and people drink and smoke in a nightclub scene. A man smokes cigarettes in several scenes, a man walks out of a smoke-filled passage and onto a stage and he coughs and gags deeply, a man smokes in a control room, a man smokes in a recording studio, a man smokes a cigarette backstage while jumping rope and we see a sign painted on the wall that says “no smoking,” a woman smokes a cigarette while sitting on a toilet, and photographs show a man holding a cigarette.
Annette DISCUSSION TOPICS
– True love, fear, fame, celebrity, fading fame, jealousy, rage, alcoholism, values, death, betrayal, forgiveness, exploitation, doubts, regret, revenge, murder, logic.
Annette MESSAGE
– Desperation to hold onto fame can cause one to commit horrible acts.
CAVEATS
Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.
We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.
Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.
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