Second Tour is a 2023 French Black Comedy film directed by Albert Dupontel.
Pierre-Henry Mercier (Dupontel) is candidate for President of the French Republic. He performed well in the first round of the election, and may be president if he wins the second round two weeks later. Unlike the usual candidates, he is new in politics.
Miss Pove (Cécile de France) and Gus (Nicolas Marié) are journalists. Pove is a former political reporter but she has been assigned to covering football as punishment for reporting on a big shareholder of her company. She is now assigned to cover Mercier but is supposed to only ask very bland questions and put him in good light.
She secretly disobeys, as she is determined to find some dirt on him and make him fail the elections. She uncovers quite a few secrets, but also finds out that he is not so much of a bad politician as she thinks.
This film provides examples of:
- The Cracker: Pove calls a hacker when she needs something illegal. He never seems to leave his computer and keeps asking her for a date. She quite obviously dislikes him.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Mercier makes sure to be shot by an assassin in order to protect his twin brother from them.
- Intrepid Reporter: Pove goes quite far, disobeying her direction, asking very blunt questions and going through illegal means to do her investigations. She is however more interested in destroying Mercier politically, that in revealing the truth.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Pierre-Henry Mercier is quite similar to Emmanuel Macron especially how he appeared in French politics in 2017. He comes from a wealthy family and is new in French politics, unlike usual candidates.
- Punishment Detail: Miss Pove is normally a political reporter but she has been assigned to covering football. This is punishment for reporting on a big shareholder of her company.
- Reading Lips: Gus is a big football nerd. He learned to read lips from watching football players insult each other on screen, in several languages.
- Separated at Birth: Pove finds out that Mercier has a twin brother. She later discovers that he doesn't know that.
- The Reveal: Pove uncovers many secrets about Mercier. He happens to not know all of them.
- Thriller: While being a Black Comedy, this film also contains many elements of a political thriller, with secrets, reveals, assassination attempts and so on.
