Illusions perdues / Lost Illusions (2021) – 3/5

Precious illusions

„Illusions perdues“ or „Lost Illusions“ is a relatively new French French-language live action film, but boy it took long to get here. I mean it premiered already back in 2021 and now it is January 2023 and finally it is here in Germany and also Germany is right next to France, so yeah I would not have expected it to take this long, especially because the film was a big success in France. With audiences I am not sure, but I guess there it was as well because the room was more packed here during my screening than I expected, but in terms of awards, it scored really big. This won the César for Best Picture even. And took home more categories that night. The writer and director is Xavier Giannoli who started shooting short films in the first half of the 1990s, so now it is roughly his 30th anniversary as a filmmaker, so good for him that this film here maybe brought him his brightest hour so far. We will see what ensues over the next years and if he maybe even manages a transition to Hollywood. What is maybe not working in his favor is that this film was not selected to represent France at the Oscars, so no immediate Hollywood stardom for him. He will be fine with that though I am sure given the movie’s other accolades. Giannoli is also one of the writers here and nobody should be surprised. He usually wrote the stuff he directed. He is not the only writer though and apparently he collaborated with Yves Stavrides on the screenplay. Now if you think an Asian former child actor having a big comeback this year is the only thing that stands out in 2022/2023, think again. Apparently, Stavrides‘ last writing credit is from 25 years ago, still comfortably over 20 years before this film here premiered, and the stuff he wrote back then, especially in the 1980s, really did not receive a particularly positive reception. So what a comeback for him and as interesting as it may seem how Giannoli’s career is going to progress now, the same can be said about Stavrides. The third writer is a certain Honoré de Balzac. You may have heard the name. Even I have and I am not an expert on (French) literature. It’s okay if you cannot immediately mention what he wrote. Neither can I. But I guess this big name being the one in charge of the base material here helped the film become such a success.

It’s been quite a long time since a period piece was really triumphant here at the German Film Awards, but good for France that they make them on a level for it to happen in their country. They are ahead of us anyway in so many departments when it comes to film-making. „Lost Illusions“ is a really long film. It runs for pretty much 2.5 hours, almost exactly to the second. The good news is that it really does not feel this long. It definitely did not drag or at least not too much. I liked the watch. This also had a lot to do with the actors. The cast is really good here, strong ensemble with some sublime moments. The one who admittedly impressed me the least was lead actor Benjamin Voisin and his newcomer award at the Césars may have been a bit exaggerated. I assume a nomination like the one for Salomé Dewaels would have been enough and maybe such a nomination would already have been too much too. I personally always adore Gérard Depardieu and it was nice to see him here, even if his role was rather small. The movie „1900“ was one of my final watches from the old year, so I am seeing him in quite a few projects now. This is not finished yet. Really curious when a few days from now he will be here in person to present his newest film, almost half a century after the aforementioned „1900“ now. Vincent Lacoste is surely seen as one of France’s rising stars now, maybe already before this film. I am not sure if I have seen him in anything else. He was good here though. Winning the supporting actor award still may have been a bit too much. The nomination would have been sufficient. Physically he reminds me a bit of Frederick Lau.

The maybe biggest name (aside from Depardieu) we have in this film is Xavier Dolan if we look at his successes as a filmmaker especially. It is not too usual that a man who has become a successful director keeps acting after his breakthrough behind the camera, but Dolan does and maybe the reason is also that he basically started acting and directing at the same time and it was never one or the other for him. He may not be seen as a child prodigy anymore, but still very impressive career for his age. There is also some special component to his character as we understand towards the very end because he is the one that gives us the narration and tells us about the main character’s fate from beginning to end. The narration is very frequent early on, then vanishes a bit in the middle part(s), but towards the end he is back again and the voice-overs become quite a thing again. Still fairly unusual. Narration is something we do get here and there in non-documentary films too, but here it was really a vital essence from the film. I liked it. On the female side, there are a few successful and established actors in here too. Cécile de France and Jeanne Balibar have had prolific careers for decades and they were both nominated for a César too for their roles in this movie. Neither won though. I guess the former is the more famous and popular actress from the duo, also thanks to her name. Another good performance. Or two good performances I should say. I just wish they could have stopped in telling us constantly how beautiful de France is. Or her character, but you could see it was also meant to describe the actress. I have to dig fairly deep to mention things about this film that I did not like a lot, let alone did not like at all. I think the revelation towards the end was maybe too much and it was such a twist and did feel fairly rushed. It was a pretty slow film before that, so it did not feel too coherent. At least, we finally understood why Balibar’s character is early on described as crucial for the main character’s life and progress.

I have not read de Balzac’s base material, so I cannot say to what extent there are differences and parallels if we compare book and novel. It is not necessary anyway to know the book in order to appreciate the film. Doing the latter is not hard at all. This also has to do with the costumes and make-up and sets. This is where the film delivered for sure. Among these, you will maybe even find the movie’s biggest strength. Another strength would be the elaboration on the press. How it is so hard for a writer to truly make an impact without being led (and/or fooled) by others. The main character wants to succeed there, but the reality is that he then becomes a critic basically, but writes articles that suit the plans of those who want to destroy or praise a play, a book or whatever. So it is his own creation indeed what he gets to paper, but it is not necessarily what he really thinks. That is kinda sad, even if this approach is not shown as being as despicable as I perceived it. I wonder why. The next step then is basically paid audience members who react in a certain way during theater performances that can ruin a cast member’s career. Or even worse if we look at what happened to the girl in the end. Of course, she was sick before that already, but even without having a flower book written about her, she is the one who was best for the main character. Maybe he realizes this too quickly. She also has some of the more memorable quotes, like when she tells the main character that she is not smart, but she is sure that he will have a good career or also when she almost begs another character to not take her man away from her. The rich aristocrats did not have good things in mind for him and yet this is where he felt he would belong. His reputation and his last name were always incredibly important to him and he takes the chance immediately when he can become one of the big names and even the French king back then could have played a role in that.

All this came with a bitter prize, namely that he stops writing critically about aspects that the rich do not want to hear about. He pretty much agrees hoping he could become one of them and this way he also loses his friends like Lacoste’s character. Who may have been his real friends, even if toward the end they also do not go easy on him at all. As a consequence, he is all on his own then. His girl is gone too and he is as low as he was when he started. The only thing he still had going for him was his youth you could say. So there could even be a sequel, but of course there won’t be. Without the literary work this is based on, chances might have been higher. It is a serious film for the most part, but you will also at least smile on a few occasions during the watch here. One character fascinating in a bizarre manner was the guy who pretty much directed the crowd and who saw himself as some kind of conductor even as a consequence and it was also not really possible to get too close to him. The protagonist tries to hit him towards the end when he realizes what the man did to the only character truly faithful to him, but he is kept away from bodyguards. Yep, seems they existed back then already. Or it was one of their jobs perhaps or they were just nearby and surely they were bigger and stronger than the main character. Not that a lot is needed for this. Oh yeah, and as for this bizarre guy I just talked about, his ideas of technology linked to sound/noise were also kinda fascinating to watch. I mean we do have a modern version of that still today in the 2020s if we look at „applause machines“ that are heard during sitcoms for example. They have been used for a long, long time. But let’s not go too deep into detail there now, instead stay with the overall basics of this film. I like the outcome. I was not blown away and it was not a superb watch, but seeing it (once) is worth it. Maybe the small screen is enough too. I give „Illusions perdues“ a thumbs-up.