Tkidnapped by one cornerstone of French literaturetonight on first TV it airs at 9.20pm on Rai 3 Lost illusions. French film presented at the 2021 Venice Film Festival and based on Honoré de Balzac’s masterpiece. A film that escapes simple historical reconstruction to speak directly about society and the world of contemporary journalism. In the cast, the revelation Benjamin Voisin – already protagonist of Summer ’85 by François Ozon – but also historical faces of French cinema as Gérard Depardieu.
Lost illusionsthe plot of the movie
Lucien Chardon (Benjamin Voisin) is a young and ambitious poet in Restoration France after the fall of Napoleon Bonaparte. Son of a provincial pharmacist, Lucien persists in being called de Rubempré despite not having inherited her mother’s noble titles. Encouraged by the noble mistress Louise (Cécile de France), he follows her to Paris in search of a publisherbut the two lovers are forbidden to be seen around for fear of a scandal.
Dumped by the woman, Lucien finds himself alone and pennilessuntil one day meets Lousteau (Vincent Lacoste), another failed writer coming from the province that was recycled as newspaper columnist The Corsaires. One of the many liberal newspapers born in the wake of the post-Napoleon boom. Lousteau immediately notices Lucien’s skill and introduces him to the unscrupulous art of journalismMade of controversies targeted and bought novel reviews, in which the young man glimpses the opportunity to take revenge on the nobility who rejected him.
So Lucien – who in the meantime has fallen in love with the actress Coralie (Salomé Dewaels) – with pen strokes he overthrows the aristocracy that rejected him and denies him the noble title that he would damn well like to take back. At his expense he will learn that everything is bought and everything is sold: literature like the press, politics like feelings and reputation like the soul.
A parable that talks about today’s society
Focusing on central part of Balzac’s novel-riverthe French director Xavier Giannoli tells us his personal version of the social and economic rise and fall of a plebeian in contact with high society. The style is that of a masterpiece Barry Lyndon by Stanley Kubrick, the most illustrious although certainly unparalleled cinematographic comparison.
However, what Giannoli is really interested in is providing a historical reconstruction that speaks of the contemporary world. Investigating the relationship between reality and fiction of the time to catapult them into today’s society and the world of journalism and fake news.
Benjamin Voisin in a scene from “Lost Illusions”. (The Wonder Pictures)
Watching Lucien’s rise to power in fact, and it ruthless world of the press to which the young man completely adheres, the spectator recognizes the same way the world works today. As if it were that Parisian era a dystopian version of our millennium.
A “game” that Giannoli succeeds very well, remaining classic in staging but modern in contentalso thanks to a solid cast. Where not only the young protagonist Benjamin Voisin stands out. But also prestigious actors such as Cécile de France, Xavier Dolan and Gérard Depardieu.
The novel by Honoré de Balzac
Published in three parts between 1837 and 1843the book – dedicated to Victor Hugo – is the tenth work of Scenes of provincial lifethe second of several narrative cycles in the ambitious series The human comedy. Among the longest books in the entire literary corpus, for Marcel Proust Lost illusions it was the best book Balzac ever published.
Novel which, in part, tells the story of Balzac’s own lifethe book is a fresco not only of the life of a young writer, but also of his clash with a spoiled literary society always looking for scandal. Following the classic rise/fall novel schemeparticularly usual in all the extraordinary literary production of the French writer.
Aesthetically innovative, Lost illusions was considered by the author himself as a “global” novel, where anyone could recognize themselves. Packed with extraordinary psychological analysisis also a book full of brilliant previews on the role of advertising and the publishing machine.
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