IT’S ALIVE! The Cannes Festival, much like the sphinx rising from the ashes, announced today that it will open its July edition with a Leos Carax movie, “Annette,” starring Marion Cotillard and Adam Driver. Anyone who reads Screen Comment and my fourteen year-long exclusive coverage of the world’s best film festival for this magazine will know that Cannes normally takes place in May but, what with a deadly pandemic and all, adjustments had to be made, the May edition having been cancelled. July seems ambitious to me, and October has also been mentioned as a Plan B (C?) fest. For us Parisians, it’s a train ride away. Remains to be seen whether colleagues stateside–wait, the world over–decide on attending or not.

Set in modern-day Los Angeles, “Annette” tells the story of Henry (Driver), a stand-up comedian with a fierce sense of humor and Ann (Cotillard), a singer of great notoriety. They are the perfect couple, healthy, happy, and glamourous. But the birth of their first child, Annette, a mysterious girl with an exceptional destiny, will change their lives.

Produced by Charles Gillibert, “Annette,” which is Carax’s sixth feature film, was based on an original idea by him and features music by Sparks. Carax was last in Cannes in 2012 with “Holy Motors,” a film whose premiere there I remember like it was yesterday–pure collective joy.