The only way to avoid a disastrous debut is to shell out a higher fee to the provocateur in return for applause and a standing ovation... Lost Illusions deserves this rave simply based on its commendable merits.

| Jul 7, 2022

Xavier Giannoli’s film is hilarious and always moving with vivid colors and rapid-fire narration that in another movie might feel heavy-handed but here is a guiding force that gives a fascinating quasi-history lesson.

| Jul 1, 2022

Lost Illusions vividly depicts a time when life was more hands-on, when writing with pen and ink stained the skin and disgruntled audiences hurled actual rotten tomatoes at performers.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jun 28, 2022

Balzac cast a wide net, yet Giannoli covers the ground effortlessly. Much of the film’s vitality flows from Vivaldi, Schubert and the other classical composers he uses to find the narrative’s pace and rhythms.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 23, 2022

Giannoli knows exactly which buttons to push and for how long. He takes what could have been a fussy adaptation of a dusty tome and turns it into something hugely entertaining.

| Jun 13, 2022

Lost Illusions is sumptuous yet piercing, an expertly plotted social-relations saga of the kind that once typified prestige Hollywood cinema, and it dives into moral quandaries rather than dispensing easy bromides.

| Jun 10, 2022

A sumptuous adaptation.... The film is so impeccably made — the cinematography, costumes, and art direction are all fabulous — that only Lucien cannot see the "cold, inhumane smiles" of his detractors to know he has blundered in his efforts to get ahead.

| Jun 10, 2022

With soaring production values and a brilliant cast and with an unquenchable joie de vivre, Lost Illusions is the Proustian madeleine of historical dramas.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Jun 10, 2022

The cast is excellent overall, with Lacoste and Dolan as the standouts.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jun 10, 2022

Gianolli’s grand adaptation isn’t just a wicked send-up and a sensual period piece; it’s a poignant reminder that everyone who thinks they’ve cleverly sussed out the wickedness of mass media is hundreds of years behind the rest of the history class.

| Jun 9, 2022

If there’s any justice this movie will become a touchstone and cult object among the grasping, scheming denizens of the current media jungle.

| Jun 9, 2022

Lost Illusions leans heavily on voiceover narration that, for better or worse, draws attention to its novelistic mode of its storytelling.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jun 6, 2022

The film’s galloping momentum is exhilarating, and there is broad comedy in its elision of carnal desire and social ambition.

| Original Score: 4/5 | May 10, 2022

With its stellar performances, dramatic orchestral score and rich costume and set design, Illusions Perdues is a worthwhile, sweeping narrative of love, lust and literary ambition.

| Sep 8, 2021

Director Xavier Giannoli accomplishes one of French literature's trickier feats - adapting Balzac - finding uncanny resonances with our time.

| Sep 7, 2021

Giannoli has not only produced a meaty and provocative adaptation of a Balzac gem, but also one of the funniest and most romantic films of the year.

| Sep 7, 2021

For all its considerable virtues, Lost Illusions is an unwieldy, excessively sombre piece which might have worked brilliantly as a judiciously paced mini-series, but overstays its welcome by cramming too much into a demanding running time.

| Sep 7, 2021