Lost Illusions Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		4.0

Lost Illusions Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman November 23, 2022

"Prestige pictures" regularly used to dot the Hollywood landscape, and they were often hugely sumptuous historical epics, often with a literary imprimatur of some sort. These films were frequently trotted out toward the end of the year in order to garner late breaking notice by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in the hopes of getting nominations for those little statuettes the group hands out, and they frequently succeeded in this gambit (Anne of the Thousand Days is a notable example). Lost Illusions is exactly that sort of film, albeit French in flavor, but it manages to also develop a rather prescient contemporary sensibility, and it has something that many historical epics are never quite able to muster: actual human emotion. Kind of oddly in terms of award season recognition, despite winning a bevy of its native country's version of the Oscar (the César), including Best Picture, it doesn't look like it was even considered for the so-called "short list" of potential Academy Award nominees for Best Foreign Language Film, though France did evidently submit Titane, which itself didn't make the short list.

The literary imprimatur in this particular instance comes courtesy of Honoré de Balzac, whose three part novel Illusions perdues was published "serially" and whose second and third parts provide the basic source material for this adaptation by director Xavier Giannoli (Jacques Fieschi gets a co-writing credit along with Giannoli). In a way, the basic story here reminded me quite a bit of The Rake's Progress, a series of paintings by 18th century artist William Hogarth which perhaps unusually became the source for the linked to opera by Igor Stravinsky and W.H. Auden. Both The Rake's Progress (in either its original artistic form or its later "all singing, all dancing" adaptation) and Lost Illusions deal with what might be termed a "rube" who journeys to the big city and is of course seduced by all the action (in several meanings of that term). If The Rake's Progress has Tom Rakewell actually contending with the Devil himself, there is certainly something devilish, if not stemming from Satan in the flesh, in some of the behaviors surrounding this story's hero, Lucien Chardon (Benjamin Voisin, Summer of 85), who, in just one sign of his social climbing ways, takes his mother's more patrician sounding surname of de Rubempré once he ventures away from the sticks.

Now that aforementioned "rube" comment might be at least a little inaccurate, as Lucien is probably decidedly more sophisticated than Tom Rakewell, and as the story opens he's already a locally celebrated poet who is ensconced in an affair with the married Louise de Bargeton (Cécile de France). When Louise's husband finds out he has a showdown with Lucien at a local printing press (then a relatively new arrival to the region) where Lucien is employed. Perhaps surprisingly, Louise decides to escape the confines of her marriage and travels with Lucien to Paris, though her passion is apparently short lived, with the result being Lucien is on his own in the big city.

Now some who know the general plot of either Balzac's original or this cinematic adaptation may (jokingly?) think I should recuse myself from any further commentary, since kind of hilariously Lucien ends up forsaking "real" writing to pursue the life of a critic, or perhaps to sound less high- falutin', a reviewer. He's "mentored" in this supposed profession by Etienne Lousteau (Vincent Lacoste), who makes no bones about the fact that his job at the newspaper he runs is to turn a profit for himself and his shareholders, "journalism" be damned. And damned in fact is what Lucien probably soon becomes, both due to his own naivete, but also his untoward ambition and the prevalent class consciousness in Paris of this era.

There are a number of interwoven plot strands, including a "new, improved" chance at "true love" courtesy of a young woman named Coralie (Salomé Dewaels), but Lucien's reviews ultimately lead him to the precipice of disaster, perhaps aided and abetted by a scheming relative of Louise's, the Marquise d'Espard (Jeanne Balibar). The pace here is perhaps surprisingly not as languid as the film's two and a half hour (more or less) running time might suggest, even if the tragic momentum of the tale becomes pretty obvious early on. That said, this dissection of morality (and/or immorality, as the case may be) actually suggests that salvation may be possible, unlike the more dour conclusion to The Rake's Progress.

Lost Illusions Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Lost Illusions is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Music Box Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.40:1. I haven't been able to find any authoritative technical information on the shoot, and the IMDb doesn't really have anything of note. The closing credits offer a glut of logos, including one for Vantage Cameras, but that seems to be a rental house with a Paris office. One way or the other, this is a really sumptuous looking presentation that frankly wouldn't surprise me if it is based off of a 4K DI (if anyone has any verifiable technical information, private message me and I'll happily update things). While the palette here is almost tamped down at times, it still resonates extremely well, and when it does pop, as in some of the Paris scenes, it does so authoritatively. Detail levels are generally strong throughout the transfer, arguably faltering only when lighting is minimal or some recurrent yellow grading is employed. Fine detail on the really luxe production design this film offers is typically excellent. I noticed no compression issues.

Lost Illusions Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Lost Illusions features DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 options in the original French. The surround track nicely opens up the soundstage in several key ways, including scoring (which offers some on screen performances) as well as any number of crowd scenes, where background clamor clearly spills into the side and rear channels. Outdoor scenes, as in the sylvan bookending sequences, also offer good opportunities for realistic placement of ambient environmental sounds. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

Lost Illusions Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• The Cast on Lost Illusions (HD; 13:55) offers some occasionally funny interviews with the principal cast. Subtitled in English.


• The Beauty of Lost Illusions (HD; 3:05) is a kind of odd featurette offering suitably gorgeous scenes from the film playing to a selection from the soundtrack. There's no dialogue of any kind included.


• Photo Gallery (HD) offers 19 stills.


• Theatrical Trailer (HD; 2:21)

Lost Illusions Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

A lot of "prestige pictures" that came out of Hollywood's heyday, or in fact maybe just a little past that perceived heyday were often kind of stuffy affairs that often played like historical figures assembled for static tableaux. This "prestige picture" is a good deal more lively, and some of its trenchant commentary on what might be termed "fake news" is surprisingly relevant. I should add in joking that, considering one of the plot points of the film, I was not paid by Xavier Giannoli for this positive review. Technical merits are solid, and Lost Illusions comes Recommended.