Xavier Giannoli scratches the press with his "Lost Illusions"

• “Lost Illusions” is an adaptation of a novel by Honoré de Balzac plunging into the world of the press in the 19th century.

• Far from being stifling, this virtuoso reconstruction takes the viewer into a whirlwind of intrigue.

• He surrounded himself with a brilliant cast to share the disillusions with an upstart embodied by Benjamin Voisin.

Illusions perdues

by Xavier Giannoli makes Honoré de Balzac as breathless as a good suspense.

The director of

accompanies a young upstart from the provinces (Benjamin Voisin) in the world of journalism in the nineteenth century, the time when the press will become commercial.

"I have no accounts to settle with the press," said the filmmaker to

.

My story is about how society ended up kneeling in the obsession with profit.

This is what Balzac also showed with as much humor as severity.

The virtuoso staging takes the viewer in the footsteps of a brilliant upstart like Martin Scorsese did in

.

Massacre and whirlwind game

Xavier Giannoli surrounded himself with a five-star cast to introduce his hero to the joys and dangers of Parisian life in the form of a cheerful game of massacre. Cécile de France as a provincial aristocrat, Jeanne Balibar as a manipulative marquise, Vincent Lacoste as an unscrupulous journalist, Xavier Dolan as a brilliant writer and Gérard Depardieu as an editor are all amazing. We keep a weakness for Salomé Dewaels who brings freshness and sincerity in the role of a popular actress dreaming of playing the great classical texts.

“I wanted to embark the public in a whirlwind, specifies Xavier Giannoli, and show without moral or punitive glance the way in which entertainment information was born.

The film's journalists extort theater directors in order to sell them laudatory articles for their plays or murderers for their competition.

Politics are not spared in this world where money is king.

We also think

of Oliver Stone's

as the love of profit takes over to the point that the characters no longer live for him.

Thrilling from start to finish

Lost Illusions

fascinates from its first images.

Not only because the film gives a great lesson in history, but because the women and men it describes remain deeply relevant.

"I was not interested in pointing fingers at people," insists Xavier Giannoli.

All have reasons for behaving the way they do.

The

, as Balzac described it, is as strong and ironic as ever.

Xavier Giannoli renders it in a modern way with so much enthusiasm and talent that one lets oneself be caught up in forgetting that he is adapting a literary classic.

We couldn't give him a better compliment.

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