Laurent Slama’s A SECOND LIFE starring Titane’s Agathe Rousselle and Alex Lawther is my favorite watch of Tribeca 2025. The brief encounter film with exquisite wide-angle shots of crowded Paris streets during the 2024 Olympics portrays the connection between two troubled souls who are trying to bounce back from the emotional lows they experienced.
Rousselle and Lawther are both remarkable, and the interaction between their characters Elisabeth and Elijah never feels forced. The film tackles weighty themes with empathy and humor, resulting in a breezy and captivating 77 minutes I cannot wait to experience again.
Writer-director-cinematographer Slama has made two previous features under the pseudonym of Liv Ullmann’s Persona character Elisabeth Vogler, the Netflix film Paris Is Us and the single-shot Tribeca 2021 selection Roaring 20’s. Paris Is Us was a respectable debut and I enjoyed the lovely Roaring 20’s, but he demonstrates tremendous growth as a filmmaker in A Second Life.
