Quentin Dupieux, the Stakhanovite of comedy, achieves recognition by opening the 77th edition of the Cannes Film Festival on Tuesday with “The Second Act”, a declaration of love and humor for cinema that premieres simultaneously in French theaters.
Léa Seydoux, Vincent Lindon, Raphaël Quenard and Louis Garrel share the bill in this 1h20 comedy, light, but that knows how to hit where it hurts most, playing with the neuroses of the seventh art and its star actors.
The film chronicles the filming of a bad romantic film, that of a young woman, Florence, played by a disillusioned Léa Seydoux, who wants to introduce her father Guillaume (Vincent Lindon) to the man of her dreams, David (Louis Garrel). But the latter, not interested, would prefer that his friend Willy (Raphaël Quenard) take his place.
Impertinence and self-hatred
Unity of place, around a roadside restaurant, economical filming, discourse about the actor and his audience, the film is in line with Yannickpenultimate work by Quentin Dupieux, a theatrical success (460,000 spectators) that took Raphaël Quenard to the top.
In this comedy, everyone takes responsibility, from Vincent Lindon, who tries to depreciate himself by evoking his mannerisms or his ego, to Léa Seydoux, who jokes about her status as a star. Louis Garrel and Raphaël Quenard test the limits of political incorrectness in a world that changes faster than they do.
As for the director, the question of his pure and simple disappearance arises from the unexpected emergence of artificial intelligence, the new scarecrow of artistic professions.
Silent promotion
Dupieux, who does nothing like the others, also decided not to promote his film, believing an unusual note to journalists saying that the time had come to “close the flap.”
“Today (…) I want to remain silent. Not out of fatigue or pretension but simply because (the film), very loquacious, says with well-chosen words everything I want to say and already contains it in an extremely clear way in its own analysis,” he argues.
“We really want to read your criticisms, comments or insults,” he adds, however.
At 50 years old, Quentin Dupieux (also known as Mr Oizo in electronic music) has established himself as one of the French references of absurd humor, with 13 feature films in 17 years, including Eraser, Incredible but true either Daaaaaali!.
Source: BFM TV
