“A Second Life”, interview with the director Laurent Slama

At the 23rd edition of Alice nella Città, the director Laurent Slama, presented his film  “A Second Life” Out of Competition. After traveling from Tribeca to Karlovy Vary, Slama’s film arrives in Rome with its delicate mix of realism, intimacy, and social reflection — a story about isolation, perception, and the search for connection in a modern world mediated by screens and noise.

Meeting a Young Audience

For Slama, bringing “A Second Life” to Alice nella Città means engaging with the very audience the film was made for. “Yeah, it’s something very special because I think that the film will talk to a young audience,” he says. Yesterday I had some meetings with like 20 teenagers from high school. It was so… so nice and so deep in terms of exchange.”
The filmmaker reflects on how young viewers approach his work with unique sensitivity: “They are very, I don’t know, very sensitive. Because they are building themselves, and so yeah, it’s very… I feel very humbled to have the chance to show the film to this audience.”

Writing with Urgency: From Idea to Screen

The idea for “A Second Life” emerged unexpectedly, born from creative frustration and a powerful encounter. “So the idea comes from— it’s an old idea. I’ve been working on a totally different script in Paris and I was not happy with the film, so I let it aside,” Slama recalls.
Then came a turning point: “I met Agathe Roussel, the main actress, for another movie. It was like seven months before the Olympics, and it struck me that she was perfect for that hard-of-hearing character.”

From there, the process became urgent and instinctive: “I get back to work with the idea of writing a script for her to shoot during the Olympics. It was speedy and intense writing, and also preparing the film at the same time… I like this very strong and deep energy.”

Filming in the Heart of the Olympics

Set during the Paris Olympic Games, the film turns the city itself into a living presence. “It’s more like a big documentary,” Slama explains. “I’m also holding the camera, so I’m really into the shooting with the actor.” Despite fears of chaos, the experience surprised him: “Paris was not so crowded at that time… all the Parisians were very afraid of the Olympics, so they left the city. It was a very nice moment, even if they decided to kick out all the homeless of Paris and there was some kind of social repression before the Olympics.”

The paradox between celebration and exclusion gives the film a political undercurrent — an echo of real-life contradictions hidden beneath global spectacle.

Sound and Silence: Hearing Through Elisabeth’s World

The protagonist, Elisabeth, is a hearing-impaired American living in Paris, and her perception defines the film’s emotional rhythm. “The main character is hard of hearing, so it’s not something very common in cinema,” says Slama. “But I like to explore the state that she’s in between. She’s between people who can hear and people who cannot hear. And she’s also between people who live and people who don’t live, because she’s experiencing depression.”

For Slama, sound becomes both a boundary and a bridge: “There was a strong attention on sound designing, because I wanted the cinema, the theatre to be like the experience of her perception. That’s why it’s important to see a film in cinema — because the sound is important and you can feel it.”

Identity, City, and Self-Reflection

Across his work, Slama explores the relationship between people and the city. “Maybe because I am always shooting very freely in the crowd. This is what I like,” he admits. “We have such a revolution in terms of technique with the digital cinema revolution. We have very small cameras — it was the dream of the French New Wave — and I want to continue to explore that and explore the link in the city.”

A fascinating autobiographical thread runs through the film: the protagonist’s name, Elisabeth Vogler, was once Slama’s pseudonym. “I used the pseudonym for my two first features… I was very into this Bergman film Persona. When I wanted to leave the pseudonym, I decided to give it to the character so I can let it go. It’s some kind of ritual, I guess.”

A Second Life, a New Perspective

Finally, the meaning behind the title: “I think it’s, for me, just some kind of hope, you know? Hope that you can change, you can start something new. There is always a moment that you can break a circle and try to change a little bit and have a new perception on life.”

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