The Second Act

CinemaSerf7/10

Mar 20, 2026

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Louis Garrel can’t really do wrong in my book, but in this rather daft comedy I thought his thunder rather effectively stolen by Raphaël Quenard and by Manuel Guillot. “David” (Garrel) and his best pal “Willy” (Quenard) are walking to a restaurant rendezvous with a girl whom the former man is trying to palm off on the latter. “Willy” is somewhat sceptical of this largesse and assumes that she has two heads, or perhaps a few additionally unwelcome appendages, but “David” insists she’s the real deal. Walking to the restaurant from the other direction is said girl and her father. “Florence” (Léa Seydoux) and “Guillaume” (Vincent Lindon) are having as equally an animated conversation and so we are set for a lively lunch. It turns out that she has no idea that “Willy” is coming and pretty swiftly he and her dad are at loggerheads. An incident between the two men causes a break in the proceedings that allows the hyper-nervous waiter “Stéphane” (Guillot) to appear at their table with a bottle of wine, four glasses and a great deal of spillage. It is at this point that we discover that just about nothing we have seen so far is the truth - but what really is going on in the "Café deuxième acte”? The dialogue is quick-fire, ripe and enjoyably unpolitically correct to the point that it clearly illustrates through parody the ridiculousness of over-proscribing what we say and how we say it. It also takes a poke at those who think you must “be” the character you are playing rather than actually engaging in some acting to become something that perhaps you’re not. Finally, there’s a lovely dig at AI and the horrendous concept of automated film-making that ensures creativity, spontaneity and craft are subsumed efficiently by coding and more coding. It’s a fun eighty minute watch that packs quite a lot in, and I enjoyed it.