(Cannes) The #metoo movement is definitely on everyone’s lips in Cannes. It is even briefly mentioned in the opening film of the festival, The Second Actby the very prolific French filmmaker Quentin Dupieux, presented Tuesday evening out of competition at the Grand Théâtre Lumière.
In this delirious satire of the world of cinema, a macho actor played by Raphaël Quénard, Dupieux’s favorite actor and current French cinema, suddenly tries to kiss his colleague Florence (Léa Seydoux). The latter, after recoiling, explains to him that she could denounce him and put an end to his young career.
To those who claim that “we can no longer say anything”, Quentin Dupieux (The deer, Yannick, Smoking makes you cough) proves the opposite through the absurd, as usual. Its characters – actors who play actors, in a delicious mise en abyme – unashamedly deliver their homophobic prejudices (or transphobic prejudices à la JK Rowling) as well as a number of inappropriate comments, particularly about people with disabilities.
“You want us to cancel ? », asks David (Louis Garrel) to Willy (Quénard), who chose his stage name by misunderstanding the characters of the TV series Arnold and Willy (because he liked, and I quote: “the little African dwarf”) . Willy replies that we have all become very ticklish since Mel Gibson dared to talk about the Jews…
PHOTO GABRIEL BOUYS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE ARCHIVES
Director Quentin Dupieux
No, Quentin Dupieux does not bother with any political correctness in this scathing comedy which abandons a little its archetypal fanciful humor to continue the reflection on art, fiction and reality, begun with Yannick last year. It is again a question of the public’s perception of artists, but also of half-empty cinemas and theaters and the fear of the impact of artificial intelligence on creation.
It is futile to play comedy while the earth burns, says Guillaume (Vincent Lindon) angrily in Florence. But as soon as Guillaume receives an offer from a great Hollywood filmmaker, he changes his mind. Florence, exasperated by his condescension, makes fun of his nervous tics (a meta reference to Vincent Lindon who, when he is not acting, suffers from facial tics).
“We must separate the man from the work,” Willy told him.
—Both are horrible!
— In this case, it’s delicate. »
The filmmaker of Daaaaaali! (on display in Quebec in ten days) andIncredible but true, about a house which has the property of making its occupants rejuvenate, preferred not to grant interviews about his fifth feature film in two years. When we told you that he is prolific… In any case, his work speaks for itself of his reflection on the pretenses of show business, vanities, jealousies, baseness and backstage games.
The character of David (Garrel), who makes fine egalitarian speeches and rebels against the homophobia of his comrades, openly despises a restaurateur who is too anxious to make up the numbers. Unlike these jaded actors, cinema is everything for him. “It’s crazy behind the scenes,” a lady who attended the filming told him, in a scene worthy of Tell us about love by Jean-Claude Lord.
Thanks to the cynical humor of its tasty dialogues and the offbeat acting of its actors, all impeccable, The Second Act recalls another enjoyable opening film of the Cannes Festival which pastiched cinema, Cut! produced in 2022 by Michel Hazanavicius. The filmmaker of The Artist is expected this year at the very end of the competition with an animated film on the Holocaust, The most precious of goods.