Laurent Slama’s energizing film, A Second Life, beautifully portrays the way connection can expand how you see the world, if you dare let it.
Director: Laurent Slama
Genre: Drama
Run Time: 77′
Tribeca Screening: June 6, 2025 (World Premiere, International Narrative Competition)
U.S. Release Date: TBA
U.K. Release Date: TBA
It’s rare to find a film about mental health that is able to avoid all expected and not always accurate clichés entirely. It’s understandable that discussing mental health openly is still a relatively new concept, so filmmakers want to err on the side of caution when showing it in movies. However, every once in a while, you are struck by a feature like Laurent Slama’s A Second Life that dares to push the bounds of what audiences are expecting to make a truly impactful movie.
It’s one thing to tell an audience a character’s depressed and have them speak about their experiences, but being able to put us in the shoes of a woman suffering and getting us to understand her unrest so deeply is a sign of a one-of-a-kind filmmaker. Writer-director Laurent Slama and writer Thomas Keumurian have constructed their characters and this story with such enormous care and a genuine desire to portray depression both realistically and empathetically, with a resounding sense of optimism that somehow avoids feeling preachy.
The movie opens on Elisabeth (Agathe Rousselle, of Titane), in the wake of an intensive depressive episode, contemplating taking her own life. She has recently undergone a vague yet looming loss in her life and feels as though she is spiraling to a place beyond reach. Elisabeth also suffers from major hearing loss and while she relies on her hearing aids to communicate, oftentimes she elects not to wear them in order to physically unplug from the world surrounding her.
Her only moments of peace are when she disconnects and sits gazing at Monet’s “Water Lilies” at the Musée de l’Orangerie. While Elisabeth is a self-taught coder, she is currently working for a Parisian concierge company. We meet her in Paris on the day of the opening ceremony for the 2024 Summer Olympics. The day promises to be her busiest yet and her job, along with her visa, which is up for renewal in two weeks’ time, relies on her clients leaving positive reviews of her service.
The first half of her day is spent sprinting from apartment to apartment in the city, welcoming guests and trying to make positive impressions. She tries to be pleasant, but she doesn’t have the energy to put up a professional facade today. While most of the clients barely look at Elisabeth, the minute she meets Elijah (Alex Lawther of The End of the F***ing World), a free-spirited young traveller renting an apartment through the concierge company she works for, it’s as if she were being seen for the first time in a very long time.
Elijah’s gaze unsettles Elisabeth. It makes her uncomfortable, not because it is predatory or physically threatening in any way, but because he seems to see her inner turmoil written all over her face. Elijah, who is in Paris to help some of the Olympic athletes mentally prepare for the games, refuses to leave the visibly struggling Elisabeth alone, no matter how intently she protests.
Slama is incredibly intentional in the way he builds the world of A Second Life. The sound design of the film is made to mimic exactly how Elisabeth hears with and without her hearing aids, showing audiences how she is forced to put in work to interact with the world around her. Since Elisabeth struggles to speak about how she feels, this use of sound gives audiences cues to her mental state throughout the film. We can experience what it feels like for her to disconnect from the world and be with her in the times when she admits only to herself that life is becoming too much for her to handle.
Color also plays a major role in the world-building of the movie. When Elijah enters the film, the coloration of each scene is intensified. The cameras suddenly blur the background of scenes, and the film feels as if it’s completely come alive, imitating how Elijah has opened Elisabeth’s experience and softened the harsh world surrounding her.
Slama’s careful consideration of how to put the audience in the shoes of a woman suffering an extreme wave of depression masterfully connects us to Elisabeth in the times when she feels completely alone.
A Second Life elegantly captures the feeling of being seen by someone for the first time for all you are. Beyond that, it shows the beauty in being understood. When Elisabeth finally gives Elijah a chance and stops dismissing him as a phony, the world opens up around her. While the film shows Elisabeth is initially reluctant to trust him completely, it shows the fellow Elisabeth’s watching that as long as you are willing to give life a shot, there is always a chance at a reprieve.
A Second Life: Movie Plot & Recap
Synopsis:
It’s the day of the Olympic Games Opening Ceremony and Elisabeth, a hard-of-hearing, severely depressed young woman, is working for an apartment rental company. Her job is to get her clients settled in the apartments they rented for the games and the pressure is on as her visa is on the line if her reviews for the day are anything less than spectacular. Things quickly turn on their head when she is introduced to Elijah, a carefree traveler who recognizes the unique pain Elisabeth is in.
Pros:
- The inventive use of sound design and coloring makes the film come alive completely.
- Agathe Rousselle and Alex Lawther both turn in breathtaking performances.
Cons:
- None to name.
A Second Life was screened at the Tribeca Film Festival on June 6-8, 2025.
