An ambitious young man dedicated to the "love of beauty" sells his soul for fame and glory in Xavier Giannoli's beautifully-appointed adaptation of Honoré Balzac's 1843 serialized novel.
A seemingly omniscient narrator sets the scene, much as in Stanley Kubrick's take on William Makepeace Thackeray's 1844 novel Barry Lyndon (which also premiered in serialized form). The literary device further establishes a link with previous bodice-rippers, like Tom Jones, Tony Richardson's Oscar-winning adaptation of Henry Fielding's 1749 novel.
Giannoli introduces 20-year-old Lucien de Rubempré (Summer of 85's Benjamin Voisin) as a printer's apprentice who dreams of a poetic life. When Louise de Bargeton (The French Dispatch's Cécile de France), a patron of the arts, invites him to her chateau to read a poem, he can't believe his luck, but her guests barely react. It doesn't stop the two from having an affair, but after her powerful husband finds out and threatens to destroy his family, Lucien trades provincial Angoulême for Paris.
In the city, another of Louise's admirers helps him to find lodgings. To fit in, Lucien blows his savings on fancy threads, but he comes off as a rube to members of the nobility, like Louise's imperious cousin, the Marquise d'Espard (Jeanne Balibar from Éric Rohmer's Balzac adaptation The Duchess of Langeais), who encourages her to cut him loose lest he ruins her reputation.
Through his job at a bistro, Lucien befriends hashish-smoking, champagne-guzzling newspaper editor Lousteau (Irma Vep's Vincent Lacoste), who oversees a newsroom so unhinged that his pet monkey chooses which books to praise and which to trash. In this proto-tabloid world, everything has a price, including positive reviews.
Lucien proceeds to take up with a sweet, if simple boulevard actress (Salomé Dewaels), tangle with an illiterate publisher (When I Was a Singer's Gérard Depardieu), and trade favors with a novelist of enviable talent (Quebecois actor-director Xavier Dolan), but the more he gains renown as a "witty, cruel" critic, the more his artistic illusions fade away. When the aristocracy finally starts to accept him, his ego gets the best of him, setting him up for a fall.
Though the incessant narration (by a figure revealed at the end) may prove overbearing to some--Lost Illusions recalls Martin Scorsese's Casino in that respect—it's exceptionally well written, frequently droll, and richly contextual regarding the 19th-century practices that predict our 21st-century landscape of social media influencers and advertising-sponsored content.
Though Benjamin Voisin benefits from a seasoned supporting cast, the film ultimately lives or dies by his performance, and the 25-year-old proves up to the task as Lucien convincingly segues from naïve to hedonistic to humbled.
Xavier Giannoli's eighth film features finely detailed production design from Riton Dupire-Clément and costumes from Pierre-Jean Larroque that range from Amadeus-like flamboyant to Visconti-like sumptuous. Giannoli, who co-wrote the script with Jacques Flieschi, had previously received three César nominations for best film (When I Was a Singer, In the Beginning, and Marguerite) before Lost Illusions finally took the top prize.
What type of library programming could use this title?
Library programming on French history or literature could benefit from Lost Illusions.
What academic subjects would this film be suitable for?
Students of French history and literature, particularly the post-Napoleonic/Bourbon Restoration era and the works of Honoré Balzac, are likely to find Lost Illusions of interest.
What kind of film series would this narrative fit in?
Lost Illusions would provide an excellent addition to film series centered on 21-century French cinema.