‘The Second Act’ Review – The Most Meta, Self-Aware & Funny Movie You’ll See In A Long Time [Cannes 2024]

What happens if we take all the problems the film industry recently faced or is still facing and put them together in one feature? We don’t know what writer/director Quentin Dupieux (Deerskin, Rubber) overcame when he decided that question was a good starting point for his feature. Still, we do know that The Second Act (original title: Le Deuxieme Acte) is the most meta, self-aware, and hilariously performed movie you’ll see in a long time.

It doesn’t take long before Dupieux pulls out the rug from underneath your feet with that very prologued walk-and-talk scene between David (Louis Garrel) and Willy (Raphaël Quenard) who are two friends strolling seemingly discussing Florence (Léa Seydoux), a woman David wants to set Willy up with. However, you’ll instantly notice that Willy keeps looking at the camera while David mentions that he must stick to the script. That’s the first moment you realise you’re watching the making of a film in a movie with Willy, David, Florence and her “father” Guillaume (Vincent Lindon) in the lead roles. On top of that, you’ll later find out that the movie is being directed, produced, and edited by the biggest threat to the film industry, an AI, giving its robotic instructions via a laptop held up by an unpassionate and lonely runner.

That first walking scene also foreshadows what’s to come next in the film. There will be a lot more walking, conversations about one thing while it’s about something totally different, and harsh verbal ping-pong games between the actors. The story’s most significant element and catalysator is the talent breaking out of character, which gives Dupieux both an advantage and a disadvantage.

By blurring the line between reality and fiction, the director can make fun of the film industry and criticise its problems without the risk of causing a massive scandal by being too harsh. One character seems to be transphobic and homophobic, but once the ‘cut’ is being shouted, it appears that it was all an act. But is that the case in real life too? Is it all ‘just’ an act or is there a lot of judgment towards gay and trans people running through the film industry after all? Dupieux also tackles other serious topics such as the #MeToo movement, the rumours that some certain actors are challenging to work with, and the rapidly changing film audience.

The many jokes, especially the ones involving a nervous extra shooting himself, might evoke a cringy and uncomfortable feeling in the audience. Still, because of the silly, dramatic dialogue and rich performances by the overall cast, they will generate plenty of laughs. The disadvantage to the many retrospective jokes is that they’re overused and prolonged. The walking scenes are compelling at first, but the more you see them, the more repetitive they become. Seeing the extra (Manuel Guillot) struggling with pouring out the wine as the waiter he has to portray is good fun initially, but after twenty minutes of that same joke, you want to see something else.

Luckily, the filmmaker has something else to offer as he also takes the mickey out of the acting world and the fact that outsiders find acting and pretending to be people you’re not extremely silly. Florence’s mother, a surgeon herself, isn’t very impressed by what her acting daughter has achieved, but Florence is convinced that her work is magnificent and essential to the world. We hope Seydoux (The Beast, One Fine Morning) shares that opinion with her character, as her acting in this feature is undoubtedly a delight to watch.

While Guillaume might be less passionate about acting because he doesn’t see the big impact films (both the popular ones such as romcoms and classics such as Titanic) have on the world, his mindset drastically changes when Paul Thomas Anderson himself wants him in his film.

It’s then that Lindon (Both Sides of the Blade, Casanova, Last Love) also gets the chance to immerse himself entirely in the character. From storming out of the first scene furiously after losing faith in film as an art form and lashing out towards all his co-stars for either being too naïve, being a gay person, or being a cocky, inexperienced upcoming actor to passionately talking about his new project with PTA and having a glass of wine with his fellow cast members he seconds before insulted, whatever Lindon’s character is going through, he portrays it with a lot of ease and charisma.

Yes, nothing is what it seems in this feature. Dupieux forces us to doubt what we see as reality or fiction in the on-screen world. During one of the last scenes, David refutes the ‘reality is reality and fiction is fiction’ aspect. As an audience member, you wonder where the real element of the story ends and the fictional one begins. But how can Dupieux create such an absurd, surrealist work that feels much more contemporary and true-to-life than similar features? By combining a comical and witty script, the crème-de-la-crème from the French cinema and an immense dosage of introspection.

The Second Act held its World Premiere as the opening night film as a part of the Out of Competition section of the 2024 Cannes Film Festival. The film is now out in French cinemas courtesy of Diaphana Distribution. No US release date has been announced yet.

Director: Quentin Dupieux

Screenwriter: Quentin Dupieux

Rated: NR

Runtime: 85m