Le Deuxième Acte

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.

Don´t want to put too much into it, but I liked this little peace a lot, mostly because it has been shot in a kind of casual way, doesn´t seem to want to be "a big one".

It has got a different approach to the slightly surreal storytelling I had been expecting. The visuals are quite plain, the rhythm of this film is made by the actors. More dialog driven than most of his other movies, it plays with the cliches of shooting a film in a funny/clever way, has some nice twists, a not too subtle sense for self irony (of the actors and shooting independent film in AI times).... and a looong dolly track. See for yourself.

Quentin Dupieux is a director who makes weird movies. You either hate or love his movies. Personally, he's a hit or miss for me as he has made some movies I really like but at the same time, movies I don't fully like. This new meta comedy that explores interesting themes of reality is an interesting concept and while the performances and concept is good, the poor approach, direction, and uninteresting characters doesn't do much justice.

Dupieux's direction on trying to make this a meta commentary on movies, reality and people is interesting. Breaking fiction between reality isn't new to discuss but a good concept. But with the humor and dialogue feeling pretty forced and insufferable, it causes many moments to feel as it's nothing, and causes the characters to be pretty unbearable. It thinks it's clever but it's not, it feels painted, thin, and insufferable. I understand the intent and what Dupieux is wanting to approach, but unfortunately it really doesn't work.

The performances from the cast are all talented actors I love and they are doing their best. There are some decent long take moments that were a bit good. However as a whole, it's a tiresome of a movie. No doubt Quentin Dupieux is an interesting filmmaker but this one isn't great.

... but someone should have called a halt to this before it made it to release!

Along the lines of "let's get four or five REALLY good actors (and that idiot Garrel) and get them to play a very meta scenario intermingling "real life" and "the film", and make some elliptical comments about AI, filmmaking and the state of the world along the way." Shame it doesn't really work, and it's certainly not funny. I feel sorry for the Cannes audience who presumably had to pretend they liked it on the night.

I must say that I have really enjoyed some of Quentin's earlier films (such as Mandibles and Smoking Causes Coughing) so was quite ready for something weird and, frankly, if it wasn't him I would have bailed on this fairly early on. But ultimately this came across as one of those homework essays that you produced on a Sunday night when you didn't really feel like it, but had to hand *something* in on the Monday morning, even if it was rubbish and not ready.

Hopefully his next film will be a return to form.

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!