Le Deuxième Acte

What a waste of energy, a waste of resources, a waste of time, a waste of talent. Everything crumbles under the weight of the writing which is so full of clichés one thinks this too is also part of the joke. It is a film within a film whose plot never takes off, whose originality wears thin 10 minutes into the film. It is thankfully 1 hour 20 minutes, an hour too long. I must be in the minority here as the film opened the Festival de Cannes this year. The Second Act was filmed in the course of a little over two weeks and I found myself wondering how, and why, it was chosen to open the film festival.

We saw this at a film festival in Poland with a packed audience and had a blast. I've seen Deerskin from the same director, so I knew something strange was coming, and I wasn't disappointed. But apart from the surreal twists and breaking the 4th wall as another reviewer noted, the performances were just magnifique: Each cast member felt like they were at the top of their game, and the laughs just kept coming. In Poland a celebrated trait is "distans do siebie", not taking yourself too seriously, and this quality was in full effect - every character put on airs, every human defect was exposed -- and it was a blast from start to finish. I was familiar with Louis Garrel, Lea Seydoux, and Vincent London, but Raphael Quenard was a nice surprise.

Recommend!

Brilliant Quentin Dupieux makes fun of cinema (his own métier) as he did before with theatre in the excellent «Yannick». And he is lucky enough to have a superb cast to give life to five actors who are working in a film, who constantly move from fiction to reality again and again, and who create a quite faithful image of all the vices (above all) and virtues of the people who make films. For them and the audience it is a hilarious and frenetic comedy, in which the story they are filming intersect with the lives of the actors, seen in a three-level game: the role they play in the film, their life as actors within the film, and as professional actors in real life.

In short, a man (Louis Garrel) asks his best friend (Raphäel Quenard) for help in seducing a woman (Léa Seydoux) who is stalking him and for whom he has absolutely no feelings. To do so, the man brings his friend to the meeting he has with the woman at Le Deuxième Acte restaurant, without knowing that she has brought her father (Vincent Lindon) to introduce him as her future partner. The quartet is joined by the restaurant waiter, played by an extra (Manuel Guillot), who suffers a panic attack and cannot properly pour wine into their glasses without his hand stopping shaking. Between these situations and the reality of the actors inside and outside the film, the events flow. Lindon receives a call to act with Paul Thomas Anderson, the actor who plays the extra has similar self-esteem problems as his character, actors turn out to be the reverse of what they pretend to be. And so it naturally flows this irreverent comedy from one of the classic iconoclast filmmakers of world cinema. A very enjoyable film.

The cinematography is stunning - sharp, colorful, and detailed, with a minimal editing style that emphasizes its visual clarity. The one-shot scene between the two male characters, father and daughter scene is witty and thought-provoking, showcasing the expressiveness of the actors and sharp, suspenseful dialogue.

The writing is a highlight, packed with clever jokes and punchlines that feel refreshingly honest. The characters speak their minds in a way that's both funny and relatable. However, the film's pacing feels uneven. While the minimal cuts enhance immersion in some scenes, the lack of variety in perspectives made it feel a bit static.

The film's brevity also works against it, leaving some parts underdeveloped. Worst of all is the ending, which felt pointless and left me wondering why. In short, The Second Act is a "hahaha, meh, bored" type of film. Not bad overall, but a stronger, more meaningful ending would have changed it.

The movies from the director " Quentin Dupieux " are still different compared to the others movie that we used to see from the industry well I think so I'm not a client from this kind of cinema you have to like this style if you want to love these projects but " The second act " it's not my cup of tea !!!

Firts to all the pitch it's very interesting and I was too exiting to find out the rest of script but for me the main idea who talking about is lost during during the process of script, it's too bad that the movie it's a movie in movie directed by AI and just a real story will be great...

The fact that 2 friends find an solution about the matter of one of them will be great to talking but unfortunately the movie don't talk about that finally...cause it's a movie in movie even if this is staid out finally.... Some scene are funny but not a lot neither...

The acting was very good, did so long lines it's not easy I don't if this is the improvisation or real lines learned but the acting was enough good l, mainly Raphaël Quenard still great in everything !!!

The directing as I said it's not my cup of tea, it's not a great directing with good shoots, but it is on purpose and this is the style from the director...but I'm not fan of that !!!

Not soundtrack unfortunately...

The movie "Yannick " was great and better than this one in Medium-length film, this movie seem too long cause sometimes the script it's too boring !!!