The Self-Aware Cinema of “The Second Act”: Quentin Dupieux Defies Convention at Cannes 2024
In an industry often defined by formulas and familiar structures, French director Quentin Dupieux stands apart as a filmmaker operating on what his lead actor Vincent Lindon described as “another planet.” Opening the 77th Cannes Film Festival with “The Second Act,” Dupieux not only premiered a film but seemingly launched a gentle assault on cinema’s conventions and the very festival celebrating it.
The plot follows a young woman who brings her boyfriend to meet her father. It is a meta-comedy about actors in a doomed film production.
The Film That Refuses to Explain Itself
“The film says everything that I want to talk about,” Dupieux declared during a press conference that exemplified his resistance to conventional film promotion. “I feel a bit stupid when I repeat myself. It’s less talented when I tell the story than when my actors do.”
This stance—refusing to explicitly deconstruct his own work—reflects Dupieux’s broader artistic philosophy: cinema should speak for itself, and perhaps the less a director explains, the more audiences will engage with the work directly. “I think the less I talk, the more people will go and see my films,” he stated matter-of-factly.
A Comedy With Acid in the Water
While Dupieux may be reluctant to dissect his film’s themes, he was clear about its purpose: “There’s no message at all. I found it very amusing, very funny because this film pokes fun at the film industry. I make fun of just about everyone, including myself.”
The director described his approach as “relaxing with a bit of acid in the water to amuse you in this very disquieting, worrying world.” In an era where cinema often aspires to explicit social commentary, Dupieux’s commitment to entertainment that doesn’t announce its own importance feels refreshingly subversive.
Yet his work is far from empty diversion. As actress Léa Seydoux noted, the film addresses contemporary issues like the #MeToo movement and artificial intelligence “with a very light touch…with humour.” This balance—addressing serious subjects without solemnity—appears central to Dupieux’s creative vision.
Against the Third Act
Perhaps most revealing was Dupieux’s self-declared opposition to traditional narrative structure, particularly what he calls “the third act.” In a statement that might make screenwriting teachers wince, he explained: “When you get to the third act in a sort of mediocre film, you sense it… I find it very boring because cinema is just becoming a formula.”
This resistance to formula extends to his editing approach. As his own editor, Dupieux described ruthlessly cutting material that doesn’t serve the film’s momentum: “When I see that there’s a scene there which simply adds a further sentence, I cut it out.” The result is a lean running time of approximately 80 minutes—a stark contrast to the industry trend toward lengthier features.
“My films are very short; they may give you the impression they’re very long,” Dupieux quipped. “It takes a lot of genius to do a four-hour film and for spectators to feel they’ve only spent an hour watching it.”
The Working Method
Despite his resistance to traditional interview questions, some insights into Dupieux’s process emerged during the press conference. His films are shot efficiently with long takes that, while precisely scripted, allow room for actors to make minor adjustments when necessary.
“When we have a 10-minute shot, I’m not mad—I’m not going to cut the scene just because they need to change three words,” he explained. This approach creates what actor Raphaël Quenard described as capturing “all the very funny, sometimes very sad moments when you’re making a film.”
As for his remarkable productivity (with multiple films appearing in major festivals in recent years), Dupieux attributes it partly to the modest scale of his productions, which allows for quicker turnaround times. “They’re not exhausting; I could make four a year if I wanted to,” he remarked, though he intentionally limits his output to maintain family time.
The Actors’ Experience
The cast, including Seydoux, Lindon, and Louis Garrel, expressed a shared sense of disorientation upon first viewing the completed film. “We have the impression that the film ceases to belong to us,” Seydoux observed. “We gave so much of ourselves in the film, and then the ownership reverts to the audience.”
When asked if her role prompted reflection on the acting profession itself, Seydoux offered a strikingly candid response: “This morning I woke up with a very strange feeling. I wondered what I was doing here, and I said to myself, ‘Oh, it’s true, I’m an actress.’ It may sound a bit strange to you, but that’s what I really thought this morning.”
She continued: “It’s a profession which sometimes strikes me as totally abstract, intangible… What is acting all about? What is good acting? What is bad acting? I often ask myself that question.”
This questioning of the profession’s essence mirrors one of the film’s apparent themes—the strange, sometimes artificial nature of filmmaking itself and the personas constructed within it.
Beyond Checkboxes
When asked whether environmental concerns influence his choice of projects, Lindon rejected the idea of selecting films based on political criteria or current trends. “I don’t choose a film because of what it represents at a given moment in time,” he explained. “I like scripts which I view as universal, that talk about things that refer to the past, to now, to the future. And if all three are combined in the film, it’s fantastic.”
This resistance to cinema that merely checks contemporary political boxes seems aligned with Dupieux’s approach—making films that exist somewhat outside of time and specific cultural moments, even while playfully engaging with them.
A Different Kind of Opening Film
By selecting Dupieux’s industry satire as its opening film, Cannes 2024 signalled a willingness to laugh at itself and acknowledge cinema’s sometimes absurd contradictions. In an era when the industry faces uncertainty from all sides, there’s something boldly confident about opening the world’s most prestigious film festival with a comedy that pokes fun at the very system it celebrates.
For filmmakers watching, “The Second Act” and Dupieux’s approach offer a reminder that even in challenging times—or perhaps especially then—cinema can retain its capacity for self-reflection, humor, and the gentle subversion of its own conventions.
Editor in Chief of Ikon London Magazine, journalist, film producer and founder of The DAFTA Film Awards (The DAFTAs).
