‘A Second Life’ Review: Agathe Rousselle, Star of Palme d’Or Winner ‘Titane,’ Carries A Compellingly Off-The-Cuff Paris Movie

Film Directors, Like The Characters they Depict on Screen, Can SomeTimes Learn from Their Mistakes.

This is Certainly the Case with French dp Turned Filmmaker Laurent Slama, Whose New Feature A Second Life vastly Improves on his Netflix DEBUT Paris is USWHICH HE MADE Under The Pseudonym Elisabeth Vogler. BOTH MOVIESSE SIMILAR SIMILAR SYLES AND PREMISES, Following A Young Woman AROUND PARIS AND EMPLOYING Tons of Real People and Locations, Clearly Without Full Authorization.

But WHEREAS SLAMA’S FIRST FILLM FELT OVERDUDULGENT AND Ultimately Aimless, This One Is Held Down by a Comepelling Performance From Titane‘S Agathe Roussselle, Playing A Franco-Emerican With A Majoor Attitude Who’s Desperately Trying to Make Ends Meet As the 2024 Summer Olympics Begin. Short and Poignant, with a terrific Supporting Turn from Alex Lawther (Andor) A Second Life Manages to Avoid Most of the clichés of your Touristy Paris-Set Drama, All While Using the City of Lights to It ITS FULLEST.

Shot and Edited by Slama in A Dense Labyrinth Field with SighthtsEers, Fans, Partygoers and A Sizable Police Force, The Film Makes The Summer Games – Or “Fucking Games) Both A Backdrop and A Key Player in the Story. Working in a Concierge Service Renting Out Luxury Apartments to Needy Clients, Elisabeth Navigates An Urban Gauntlet Dringing Two Action Job and A Work Visa.

Since She’s Clearly French, It’s A Bit Confulsing WHY Elisabeth Mostly Speaks English and Strives to Get Legalized, But Slama Eventuly Raised for a Time in the US, She’s A Stranger in a Strange Land Who’s Trying to Make Paris Her Home, However Impossible That May Be. She’s Also Inflicted with An Auditory Ailment that Requires Her to Wear Hearing Aids – A Fact That Allows Slama to Mess with The Sound Design, Enhanceing The Overall Sense of Disorient.

Hostile and unwelComing, Elisabeth Actual ComESS OF LIKE ATPICAL PARISIAN, ILL-SUITED TO THE TASK OF ACCOMPANYING OBNOXIUS Rich people into. The Film’s Early Sections Track Her from One Flat to Another, The Camera Rushing Alongside Her As She Races AROUND TOWN. These Moments Recall Another Paris-Set Drama: Benoit Jacquot’s A Single GirlWHICH Followed Virginie Ledoyen As A Luxury Hotel Chambermaid with A Big Personal Dilemma.

Elisabeth Has Some Big Issues As Well, Suffering from A Nasty Breakup and Contemplating Suicide in the Opening Scene. She’s in no Mood for Small Talk or Even A vague Smile, WHICH is WHY HER RUN-IN WITH ANUSUAL Client, The Chatty, Flighty and Extremely Chill Elijah (LaTHER) LAWTER, LOOKS LOOKS LOOKS LOOKER. But as the Latter Decides to Stick with Elisabeth Throughout the REST OF THE DAY, AND THEN SOME, A Second Life Winds Up TransForming Into Something UNEXPECTED: NOT A ROMANCE, PER SE, BUT A Chronicle of a Budding Friendship Between Two Young People in Need of Genuine Human Affection.

Yet Another MOVIE ComESS TO MIND HERE: JULIE DELPY’S Two Days in ParisWHICH ALSO FOLLOWED A FRENCH-AMERICAN COUPLE IN A CITY JAM-Packed for Itnual Fête de la Musique. The Differentnce Is How Much Slama’s Film Sems to Be Off-The-Cuff and Improvised, As if The Actors Were MOSTLY PLAYING THEMSELVES (We do see bystanders Occasonally look at the camera).

This diy Approach Works Well with A Story About Two Wayward Millennials Who Want To Live Frely But Are Each Pinned Down By Mental Health Struggles, Which. Attacks. Thankfully, The Latter Is Also a Gifted Hypnotist – He’s in Town to Work with Pro Athletes – and at One Point He Finally Manages to Crack Elisabeth at the buttos -raumont Park.

The Film Can Get A Bit Treacly in Such Moments, Especialy Hen Slama Repeatedly Inserts Shots of Monet’s Famous Water lilies Paintings – or Else of the artist’s Scenic Gardens Out in Giverny. If there is a clichéd Tourist Attration Along with The Louvre and Eiffel Tower, This Wound Be It, Although The Director Does Manage to Give It Greater Meaning Toward. Ultimately a Masterpiece for Whoarly Blind Painter Triigfed Over Adversity.

OtherJise, The Director Motstly Sticks to Reality, Grounding His Movie in Rousselle’s Touring and Touching Performance. After Going Beyond the Call of Duty in Julia Ducournau’s TitaneHer First Feature, The Actress Shows She Can Play A Character Deling with More Mundane Issues than Say, Getting Impregnated by a Cadillac. Her elisabeth feels vels much like a yong woman of OUR Time, Striving to Make It But Refusion to Compromise Herself, Especlamally WEEN WEE SEE HER TURN FRON FRONFLI. Slama Smartly Keeps His Camera Focused On Her From Start to Finish, Revealer How Exhausting It Can Be To Settle In A Beautify City Rejecting You, Until IT Suddenly OPENS ITS.