Lost Illu­sions – first-look review

Canon­i­cal French author Hon­oré de Balzac is thought to be one of the more dif­fi­cult to adapt. His polit­i­cal­ly thorny and emo­tion­al­ly intri­cate nov­els don’t trans­late eas­i­ly to the screen. With his immense real­i­sa­tion of ​‘Illu­sions Per­dues’, Xavier Gian­no­li makes that chal­lenge seem straight­for­ward. The French direc­tor has not only pro­duced a meaty and provoca­tive adap­ta­tion of a Balzac gem, but also one of the fun­ni­est and most roman­tic films of the year.

Fol­low­ing upstart writer Lucien Chardon (Ben­jamin Voisin) as he seeks fame and for­tune in a 19^th cen­tu­ry Paris defined by its new free­doms and raunch­i­ness, Lost Illu­sions quick­ly swerves any indi­ca­tion it might be a staid or unad­ven­tur­ous peri­od piece. Though almost two-and-a-half hours long, it feels much short­er. Eco­nom­ic pac­ing and nim­ble edit­ing keep a heavy tale light on its feet. Ben­jamin Voisin also deserves praise for his lead turn as the ambi­tious jour­nal­ist who vows to fight a war against mediocrity.

Yet while Lucien’s lofty prin­ci­ples for a bet­ter lit­er­ary world inspire those around him, his art­ful point of view is test­ed against the low-brow instincts of papers which actu­al­ly sell, most notably the punchy pro­to-tabloid edit­ed by his best friend Lus­teau (Vin­cent Lacoste). Lucien soon learns to stop wor­ry­ing and love a news­room in which edi­to­r­i­al deci­sions are made by a small mon­key (seri­ous­ly). In return for park­ing his des­tiny, Lucien’s social climb is rapid, and his dream of tak­ing on his mother’s noble title – allow­ing him to drop the name of his com­mon­er father – becomes increas­ing­ly plausible.

Any young jour­nal­ist look­ing for steady work along­side self-actu­al­i­sa­tion will under­stand Lucien’s dilem­ma, in much the same way it’s impos­si­ble to ignore the res­o­nance of ear­ly fake news and mis­in­for­ma­tion cam­paigns among the Paris the­atre district’s sav­age com­pe­ti­tion. But Lucien must also learn that the world is a sav­age place, regard­less of how sophis­ti­cat­ed the for­mal­wear and gen­teel the eti­quette. Not that he’s the only one suf­fer­ing: wealthy Roy­al­ist Mar­quise d’Espard (Jeanne Bal­ibar) is infat­u­at­ed with Lucien, who prefers the chaos – and red stock­ings – of actress Louise (Cécile de France).

A hand­some man with emo­tion­al intel­li­gence beyond his years, Lucien is soon as suc­cess­ful among the ladies as he wish­es to be among the Parisian news­pa­per barons – or, as Balzac puts it, ​“the pub­lish­ing sul­tans”. The biggest beast both fig­u­ra­tive­ly and lit­er­al­ly is Dau­ri­at (Ger­ard Depar­dieu), along­side trusty steed Nathan (Xavier Dolan). If Edgar Wright’s Last Night in Soho, anoth­er Venice title, is about being chewed up and spat out by the big city, Lost Illu­sions is about the thrill of jump­ing right back in. It’s a joy­ous romp not to be missed.