Cannes 2024 Short Take: Quentin Dupieux's The Second Act is Mischievous and Likeable

The Second Act is a film within a film in which four famous French actors – Léa Seydoux, Vincent Lindon, Louis Garrel and Raphaël Quenard - play exaggerated versions of themselves. It begins with a long tracking shot in which two friends are having a conversation about a girl – one is asking the other to take her off his hands. But suddenly the two turn and acknowledge the camera and one says, “You can’t speak like that. Do you want us to get cancelled?” After which, nothing goes as planned but we knew that would happen because this is a Quentin Dupieux film.

The four go on to shoot a scene at a roadside diner called The Second Act but life and art overlap, the fourth wall is non-existent, buttons are pushed – there’s a line about Mel Gibson. It’s all very meta, low-key amusing, sometimes sour and determinedly open-ended. Dupieux, who has also written, shot and edited the film, has never been one for neat conclusions. The Second Act is slim both figuratively and literally – it runs for only 85 minutes. It’s not bracingly inventive but it’s mischievous and likeable enough.

The Second Act played as the opening film of the 77th Cannes Film Festival.