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Cannes opens underneath the signal of surreal comedy: “The Second Act” by Quentin Dupieux inaugurated the brand new version of probably the most glamorous movie competition on this planet out of competitors, which this 12 months blows out seventy-seven candles.
Being chosen as director of the opening movie of a competition like Cannes actually looks like the icing on the cake of Dupieux’s profession, creator of a loopy and surreal cinema that has made him an artist as controversial as he’s able to by no means leaving anybody detached.
Also identified by the pseudonym Mr. Oizo, with which he appeared on the French music scene within the late nineties (his first track, “Flat Beat”, was a huge success), Dupieux arrived with “The Second Act ” on his thirteenth function movie, confirming an inventive streak that’s not possible to cease, which has led him to direct 4 movies within the final two years: “Incredible however true” and “Smoking makes you cough” in 2022, “Yannick” and “Daaaaaalì! ” in 2023.
At the middle of the plot of “The Second Act” there are 4 characters: Florence needs to introduce David, the boy she is head over heels in love with, to her father Guillaume. David, nevertheless, is just not sufficiently drawn to Florence and wish to take her into the arms of her buddy Willy. The 4 will all discover themselves collectively in a restaurant, in the midst of nowhere. “The Second Act” is a comedy of errors, a movie through which Quentin Dupieux creates a enjoyable sport of slaughter that additionally includes the spectators. With references to surrealism by Luis Buñuel – usually current within the French director’s cinema, additionally given the current movie devoted to Salvador Dalì – “The Second Act” develops by undermining the general public’s certainties and upsetting a collection of curious reflections and twists in its eighty minutes of period.
Brilliant concepts however too many repetitions
As in “Yannick”, the concepts primarily contact on the connection between actuality and fiction on this profoundly metanarrative comedy through which the characters usually change roles. If the primary strains of the movie are good and stuffed with attention-grabbing concepts, because the minutes go the movie finally ends up being too repetitive, recalling different titles by the director (“Reality” from 2014, for instance) and ending up in a vortex of redundancies that additionally threat boring, regardless of the general brief period. Between shocking concepts and drained moments, ” The Second Act” is a fluctuating movie, which additionally talks about synthetic intelligence in movie productions however with out giving the best depth to such a fragile subject. In a number of passages we (smile) snigger, however the general design is just not as incisive because the premises of this operation led us to suppose. However, some profitable sequence photographs are value mentioning, succesful amongst different issues of displaying the expertise of the wonderful forged within the subject: from Vincent Lindon to Léa Seydoux, passing by way of Louis Garrel and Raphaël Quenard, the actors work completely in a movie through which appearing has a really essential particular weight. It ought to be underlined that the movie was screened on the finish of an emotional opening ceremony which noticed Meryl Streep as absolutely the protagonist, winner of this version’s honorary Palme d’Or, welcomed by a really lengthy standing ovation.