Kaamelott: Second Part, Part 1

It undoubtedly took a certain amount of courage to dive back into the world of Kaamelott after the mixed reception of the first feature film. Four years later, Alexandre Astier delivers Kaamelott: Second Part, Part 1, a work that, under the guise of an epic fresco, turns out to be a patchwork with no clear direction, a series of disjointed scenes that are more reminiscent of the television format of the series than the grammar of cinema. The wait has been long, the ambition clear, but the end result drags on, repeats itself, and fails to captivate. It is not so much the lack of action that weighs heavily as the impression of going through a story in prolonged hibernation, trapped in a nostalgia that has lost all its spark.

The film opens with Arthur Pendragon (played by Alexandre Astier himself) trapped in his existential slump, living with his in-laws, indifferent to the reconstruction of a kingdom in ruins. Nothing has changed since Kaamelott – Premier Volet, except that weariness has set in for good. Around him, Guinevere (played by Anne Girouard) tries to rekindle the flame of the defeated king, Lancelot (played by Thomas Cousseau) sinks into penitence, and the court of Logres rehashes the same quarrels. We see the familiar faces—Lionnel Astier as Léodagan, Joëlle Sevilla as Séli, Audrey Fleurot as the Lady of the Lake—but their interactions seem to go nowhere, recycling hackneyed exchanges in a setting that aims to be solemn. Each scene seems to promise a dramatic revival before dissolving into the next, as if the editing had forgotten the narrative's momentum.

This fragmentation gives the film a broken, almost amorphous rhythm. Alexandre Astier, faithful to his dense and verbose writing style, lines up subplots: a trio of magicians (played by Jacques Chambon, Bruno Fontaine, and Daniel Mesguich) searching the ruins, bounty hunters on the trail of King Loth, young knights on a quest to find themselves. But nothing moves forward, nothing comes together. What once held the series together—the liveliness of the dialogue, the collision between triviality and grandeur—falls apart here in tensionless chatter. It is no longer filmed theater, but tired theater that drags on for two hours and twenty minutes without ever taking off. Even the splendor of the Icelandic landscapes, the meticulous sets, and the elegant photography are not enough to compensate for the slow agony of the pace.

Yet we sense Alexandre Astier's desire to elevate his universe to a form of French fantasy, with dragons, prophecies, and symbolic quests. The intention is commendable, but the execution collapses under the weight of overloaded writing. By trying too hard to show and evoke everything, the film ends up telling us nothing. The epic pretensions clash with the episodic structure: ellipses follow one another, transitions evaporate, and the characters seem to cross paths without ever really interacting.

It almost feels like a montage of six poorly ordered episodes. What could have been a romantic breath of fresh air turns into a fog of dialogue, where we get lost looking for a common thread. The absence of Franck Pitiot (Perceval) alone illustrates the film's imbalance. This character, the linchpin of the series' absurd and tender tone, is sorely missed.

Without him, the humorous dynamic collapses, and Karadoc (still played by Jean-Christophe Hembert) seems bereft of his partner in idiocy. The rare comic attempts, carried by Guillaume Gallienne or Alain Chabat, appear as isolated breaths of fresh air in a grimly stilted whole. Even Léodagan's sarcasm and Séli's outbursts struggle to elicit a smile. This cinematic Kaamelott, once joyfully offbeat, takes itself terribly seriously here and loses what made it charming: the lightness of disenchantment.

Even more seriously, the film offers neither narrative progression nor emotional tension. At the end, Arthur remains dejected, Lancelot remains frustrated, and the gods are still angry. No conflict is resolved, no trajectory evolves. Everything seems frozen, like a set that is too well lit but devoid of life. Where the series moved forward with small touches of ironic despair, Alexandre Astier remains here with the outline of a drama that he refuses to let blossom. The quest for the Holy Grail becomes an empty metaphor, and even the sword Excalibur, the central symbol of the legend, ends up stuck in a rock due to a lack of ideas. This permanent inaction ends up infecting the viewer, held hostage in a breathless narrative.

Visually, everything is bigger and more polished, but it is a hollow beauty, that of a film that confuses breadth with depth. Marylin Fitoussi's costumes are dazzling, and the music composed by Alexandre Astier himself carries a sincere gravity, but none of this inhabits the heart of the film. What is missing is not talent, but movement. The whole is all the more frustrating because we can sense behind this inertia a sincere work, constructed with passion, but trapped by an author who refuses to make a decision. By wanting to remain faithful to his universe while pretending to expand it, Alexandre Astier ends up diluting one and failing at the other.
T
he most ironic thing, in the end, is that this Part 1 tells only half the story without even offering a semblance of a climax. No threads are tied up, no emotions are stirred, and the credits roll as if the film were ending rather than the shoot. By constantly postponing his promises, Alexandre Astier transforms his Arthurian odyssey into a never-ending soap opera, trapped in its own myth. Whereas Kaamelott: First Part still retained a certain nostalgic warmth, this Second Part, Part 1, gets bogged down in repetition and boredom. We come away with the same impression as the characters: exhausted, a little lost, and vaguely resigned.

Kaamelott: Second Part, Part 1 is not a spectacular shipwreck, but a slow drift. It is a film that searches for its breath without ever finding it, lining up its images like memories of past glory. Despite Alexandre Astier's obvious sincerity, his work collapses under the weight of his ambitions. Too long, too talkative, too static, it has neither the verve of the series nor the scope of a real movie. All that remains is a succession of unconnected sequences, a kingdom without a king, a myth without rhythm.

Kaamelott: Second Chapter, Part 1
Written and directed by Alexandre Astier
Produced by Alexandre Astier, Agathe Sofer
Starring Alexandre Astier, Anne Girouard, Thomas Cousseau, Lionnel Astier, Joëlle Sevilla, Jean-Christophe Hembert, Jacques Chambon, Nicolas Gabion, Guillaume Gallienne, Virginie Ledoyen, Carlo Brandt, Christian Clavier, Stéphane Margot, Haroun, Daniel Mesguich, Claire Nadeau, Audrey Fleurot, Alain Chabat, Clovis Cornillac, Marie-Christine Orry, Thomas VDB, Serge Papagalli, Brice Fournier, Alain Chapuis, Gilles Graveleau, Luna Karys, Étienne Fague, François Raison, Ethan Astier, James Astier, David Ayala, Sylvain Quimène, Loïc Varraut, Josée Drevon, Louise Orry-Diquero, Eddy Letexier, Linh-Dan Pham, Redouane Bougheraba, Aurélien Portehaut, Ariane Astier, Jeanne Astier, Tony Saba, Bruno Fontaine, Alexandra Saadoun, Magali Saadoun, Thomas Neyret, Hugo Leman, Paul Valy, Hugo Halet, Léa Pellin, Moguiz
Cinematography: Jean-Marie Dreujou
Edited by Alexandre Astier
Music by Alexandre Astier
Production companies: Regular Production
Distributed by SND (France)
Release dates: October 22, 2025 (France)
Running time: 139 minutes

Seen on October 24, 2025 at Gaumont Disney Village, Theater 3, seat A18

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