ILLUSIONS PERDUES
The first French feature in competition on Venezia 78 comes from classics. Illusions perdues is the title of the novel by Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850) published in three parts (The Two Poets, A Great Man of the Provinces in Paris, Eva and David the latest also known as The Inventor’s Suffering). Illusions perdues is a fundamental segment of the unfinished series of the Human Comedy Honoré de Balzac himself presented the novel as «the main segment of the opera». The core of the story is young Lucien who leaves his birthplace Angoulême to go to Paris hoping for success in poetry and good society. But his illusions will have to face the cruel post-restauration reality of the French capital, where the only law is the market. Writer and director Xavier Giannoli met the challenge to adapt the novel for the big screen (Maurice Cazeneuve did the same for French television in a series in 1966). Giannoli is a true Lido habitué, he was in competition in 2012 with Superstar (based upon the novel The privilege of being a star by Serge Joncour) and in 2015 with Marguerite (that had nomination for the César for best film, directing and e screenplay). His first feature was Les corps impatients from the novel by Christian de Montella. Gérard Depardieu, Cécile de France (The French Dispatch) e Canadian actor and director Xavier Dolan are in the cast. Lucien is played by Benjamin Voisin who was one of the two main characters of François Ozon’s Summer of ’85.
Emanuele Bucci
Scheda tecnica:
Illusions perdues
France, 2021 Directed by Xavier Giannoli With Benjamin Voisin, Cécile de France, Vincent Lacoste, Xavier Dolan, Salomé Dewaels, Jeanne Balibar, Gérard Depardieu, André Marcon, Louis-Do de Lencquesaing Lenght 2 h 24’
