Cannes begins, against all reason, two weeks from today, and with it comes the trailer for this year’s opening-night selection. (Arriving in French theaters the same day is no doubt further incentive to get the marketing machine rolling.) Quentin Dupieux’s Le Deuxième Acte (The Second Act) stars Léa Seydoux, Vincent Lindon, Louis Garrel, Manuel Guillot, and the director’s mainstay Raphaël Quenard, and at a slim 76 minutes suggest one of the breezier starts the festival’s had in some time.
Although the official synopsis is rather straightforward––”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 characters meet in a restaurant in the middle of nowhere”––this preview hints at the rather meta approach Seydoux revealed in an interview:
“It’s a mise en abyme around actors who play in a lousy film. Actors facing their character and their lines. Each role is dual. Vincent Lindon plays an actor who plays my father.”
Find preview and poster below:
