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Illusions Perdues - English subtitled

Costume drama, awarded no less than seven Césars, about a young poet who moves to Paris in the mid-19th century to try his luck.

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Lucien is a young unknown poet in 19th century France. He has great hopes and wants to forge his destiny. He leaves the family printing house in his native province to try his luck in Paris on the arm of his patroness of the arts. Quickly left to fend for himself in this fabulous town, the young man will discover what goes on behind the scenes in this world devoted to the law of profit and pretense.

A human comedy which demonstrates that everything can be bought or sold: literary success like the press, politics like sentiments, reputations like souls. The film shows that the themes of the novels by Honoré de Balzac are still extremely topical today. Even without the Internet, people in those days knew what poisonous journalism was.

Xavier Giannoli, France, 2021, 151 min. French spoken, English subtitles. With Benjamin Voisin, Cécile de France, Vincent Lacoste, Xavier Dolan, Salomé Dewaels, Jeanne Balibar, Gérard Depardieu.