DR
Pure Quentin Dupieux. The darling of movie buffs takes us on a journey in a delightful satire of the 7thth art. New filming planned for January 2025.
Two friends are walking in the countryside. David (Louis Garrel) wants to convince his friend Willy (Raphaël Quenard) to seduce Florence (Léa Seydoux), the young woman who loves him, but who annoys him. Willy is wary. She is ugly ? Not at all. So she is transgender ? But no, let's stay on earth. David is afraid of being “cancelled” or as they say today “cancelled” following his friend's inappropriate comments.
The young woman introduces David to her father Guillaume, an international banker (Vincent Lindon) in a cold and impersonal restaurant in the middle of nowhere, curiously called “The Second Act”. That's the “crappy” scenario. It's not us who say it, but Vincent Lindon!
Restaurant Le Deuxième Acte in the middle of nowhere: a strange choice to introduce your lover to your father © Chi-Fou-Mi Productions
Quentin Dupieux, the troublemaker of French cinema, 50 years old, allows himself the luxury of making fun of cinema, which, however, is his main source of income.
“The Second Act” was presented out of competition at the opening of the 77thth 60~strong>Cannes Film Festival , then in theaters from the 14th May. The cinema people applauded, the public loved it. The press was full of praise, from L'Humanité to Le Figaro and the essential Télérama. Once is not customary! But how can we explain such unanimity ?
Making-of of a new genre
Quite quickly we realize that the story is of little importance. It is the pretext for the making-of of a film whose set we never see. A completely different genre than La Nuit américaine by François Truffaut released in 1973 where we delighted in discovering the behind the scenes of a film. Here, there is none. That is what is new. Artificial Intelligence has appropriated the creation, the writing, the direction. There is no direction of actors and it's a big mess!
A young assistant arrives with his computer to tell the actors if they have checked the boxes of the production rules.
The extra who plays the role of the waiter (Manuel Guillot) wonderfully has severe stage fright. His hand is shaking, he pours an overpriced Burgundy next to the glasses. Suddenly, a virtual voice tells him that his fee will be reduced given his poor performance. Who to complain to ? Is he going to commit suicide ? AI has replaced screenwriter, producer, director, cameraman, script girl, sound effects artist, editor, translator…
On this dreary plain looms the seventh art vampirized by Sacrificial Intelligence. Dupieux serves us this new world on a platter: only a few first or second-rate stars (and extras) will be recruited to play in duds. No problem, the spectators will turn into vegetables with less and less critical sense.