Taken from the masterpiece by Honoré de Balzac, The human Comedy, Lost Illusions it is directed by the director Xavier Giannoli who signs a film set in 1820 France with extraordinarily contemporary themes and tones. A human comedy with an exceptional cast including the protagonist Benjamin Voisin, Xavier Dolan, Vincent Lacoste, Cécile de France and Gérard Depardieu which, thanks to I Wonder Pictures and Unipol Biografilm Collection, will arrive in Italian cinemas from December 30th. Rich in those productive values that have made cinematographic art great, from sets to costumes, to the perfect reconstruction of the Paris of 1821, Giannoli’s work tells the birth of the society of entertainment and mass communication: from fake news to quarrels on social media, we discover that we live in a world not so dissimilar to that of the masterpiece of French literature, with its ambitions, its deceptions, its scandals.
The plot of Lost Ilusions
Lucien is a young poet in search of fortune. He has high hopes for his future and is determined to take the reins of his own destiny by abandoning the family typography and trying his luck in Paris under the wing of his patron. Rejected by the Parisian aristocratic society for his humble origins and his dangerous relationship with the baroness, he finds himself alone, penniless, hungry and humiliated and seeks revenge by writing controversial articles. In the coveted Paris, he finds a cynical world where everything – and everyone – can be bought and sold.
The words of director Xavier Giannoli
I discovered the novel when I was about 20, practically Rubempré’s age. I was studying literature and was lucky enough to have a teacher named Philippe Berthier, who has since become a great specialist in La Commedia Umana. I went to the Sorbonne to stay in the cinema district. I didn’t know how yet but I wanted to dedicate my life to you. Everything connected with the cinema, in one way or another …
Then I began to accumulate notes, visual references, studies by Marxist critics or, on the contrary, by reactionary aesthetes, as critics from all sides had re-evaluated Balzac. And as far as I can remember, I always had the idea of doing a film adaptation of Illusions. But I don’t want to color the images of the novel, clumsily plagiarize the narrative into an academic adaptation. Art feeds on what burns. Cinema is by nature the transfiguration of a reality or a book. Otherwise what good is it?
Source-tg24.sky.it