“This town ain’t big enough for the both of us/And it ain’t me who’s gonna leave,” sing the art-rock band Sparks in their early 1970s album Kimono My House.

Like the song, themes of power and jealousy frame Annette, an oddball musical directed by Leos Carax (Holy Motors) and written by siblings Ron and Russell Mael of Sparks. The film was the opening night selection of the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, where Carax won the Best Director award. Born Alex Christophe Dupont, the French director adopted “Leos Carax” (an anagram of “Alex” and the Academy Award “Oscar”) as his professional name. This is his first English-language project.

Starring Adam Driver (Marriage Story) as Henry, a cynical stand-up comedian, and Marion Cotillard (La Vie en Rose), as Ann, an elegant opera star, the film is set in Los Angeles and revolves around a passionate couple with uneven levels of fame and vastly different dispositions. (Many have called it La La Land meets A Star Is Born.) When their daughter Annette arrives, a little What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? gets added to the mix. A redhead like her mother (and a name that is, perhaps, intentionally similar), she has the voice of a goddess and is celebrated around the globe. Young fans carry dolls in her likeness, as she supersedes her parents in many ways.

Despite any resemblance to those previous films, Annette is its own genre-defying work. Dreams, nightmares, and fantasies propel the audacious fable of star-crossed lovers, visualized through flights of fancy. For example, during one of Ann’s opera scenes, a forest on stage magically becomes a real one. And to escape fallout from the entertainment press labeling the couple “Beauty and the Bastard,” the pair take a cruise in a yacht on a stormy sea, depicted by an obvious rear projection of tumultuous waves on a sound stage. Female craftspeople—cinematographer Caroline Champetier and editor Nelly Quettier—had collaborated with Carax in Holy Motors and beautifully illustrate this offbeat world as well.

Driver’s performance is savage as an offensive, confessional comedian reminiscent of Lenny Bruce or Andy Kauffman, and whose material revolves around death. Shadow boxing backstage in a hooded robe, he prepares for verbal combat with his audience. His powerful turn overshadows Cotillard’s delicate portrayal of an opera diva expiring in the spotlight every night. Baby Annette is inexplicably played by a wooden marionette—actually several—as she ages to six years old. (Carax has said it avoided the complications of working with several children in the role.) Simon Helberg (The Big Bang Theory) as the Conductor, by turns farcical and earnest, plays Ann’s longtime accompanist who harbors an unrequited love for her and reveals a truth that upends the central love story, leading to a dark twist in the already ill-fated romance.

There’s something for everyone, from pop to classical, in the 40 songs that comprise the film’s catchy soundtrack by Sparks. The lyrics, “We love each other so much,” change meaning as they are repeated throughout in different contexts, including, brazenly, an intimate act. The lead actors sang live during the filming, although they did make a backup recording just in case. (Cotillard’s majestic arias were strengthened with the voice of a professional soprano.) The narrative isn’t driven by verse—the characters sing to transparently express longings, intentions, and dark inner worlds. Extreme emotions and themes, such as violence in the face of all-consuming love, lend Annette an operatic quality that sets it apart from recent movie musicals.

The film is a bit long at 140 minutes, but it’s not surprising given the over-the-top production we’ve experienced along the way. More is more.