Quentin Dupieux’s Star-Studded Comedy ‘The Second Act’ Will Open 2024 Cannes Film Festival

This year’s Cannes Film Festival is getting … zany? Such is the news today, as the festival has announced that Quentin Dupieux’s “Le Deuxième Acte” (“The Second Act”) will open the 77th edition of the lauded festival in an out of competition slot. The film will premiere on opening day, Tuesday, May 14.

The film stars Léa Seydoux, Vincent Lindon, and Louis Garrel — and, yes, you can thank Cannes brass for that “zany” designation, as today’s official announcement shares that the trio are entering the filmmaker’s “zany universe for the first time” — and they will be joined by Dupieux regular Raphaël Quenard (who previously starred in the singular filmmaker’s “Mandibles,” “Smoking Causes Coughing,” and “Yannick”).

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“The Second Act” is a “four-part comedy” (in this case, “part” seems to mean character, not section) that, per the festival, “shows itself to be a new mise en abyme around acting.” Per its official synopsis: “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.”

The film landed on IndieWire’s own Cannes wish list of thirty titles we hope (and expect!) to land at the festival. This year’s festival will unspool from May 14 through May 25, and we’re expecting many more lineup announcements in the coming days and weeks.

Per today’s announcement, the festival is thrilled to welcome the “daring and unpredictable artist,” “a filmmaker who embraces freedom,” and who has “has freed himself from convention through an already extensive body of work (13 feature films in 17 years).” Now that’s a hell of a way to open a festival (and zany to boot). Dupieux was last at Cannes with his “Smoking Causes Coughing,” which premiered out of competition in 2022 and marked his first feature to land on the Croisette.

The film will hit French cinemas on the same day as its Cannes premiere, though it is currently seeking U.S. distribution.

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