The Second Act

In 13 films, Quentin Dupieux has made the absurd a genre unto itself. The unclassifiable and prolific French director opened this year’s Cannes Film Festival Out of Competition with a new comedy that is a mirror effect of cinema. His characters comprise among others Florence who wants to introduce David, the man she is wildly in love with, to her father Guillaume. But David isn’t attracted to Florence and wants to get rid of her by throwing her into the arms of his friend Willy. Here Dupieux offers his imperfect and clumsy characters the chance to come face to face with their cinematic doubles and their lines in a comedy that is also socially profound.

Dupieux who started off in electronic music, has since asserted himself on the global film arena as a self-taught filmmaker thanks to his outlandish buddy movies full of surrealist gags and dark humour.