Le Deuxième Acte
Prolific filmmaker Quentin Dupieux (Deerskin, Mandibules) assembled a French all-star cast – including Léa Seydoux and Vincent Lindon – for this playful satire on the film industry, cancel culture, AI and celebrity egos.
Le Deuxième Acte follows four actors coming together to create a formulaic romantic comedy that most of them despise. In the film, Florence wants to introduce David, the man she’s madly in love with, to her father Guillaume. But David isn’t attracted to Florence and wants to throw her into the arms of his friend Willy. The four of them meet in a restaurant in the middle of nowhere. As the four make their way to the restaurant, the actors playing them keep falling out of character, directly addressing the audience. As the crew becomes increasingly vocal off camera, it is evident that the film they’re making may not reach its conclusion.
This meta-comedy – the opening film of the Cannes Film Festival in 2024 – satirises everything from contemporary film production to actors’ vanity and the excesses of political correctness, with the help of a cast who revel in the mischievousness of the entire enterprise.