Lost Illusions: What happens to Lucien at the end of the film?

The great work of Saverio Giannoli

In October 2021, after the selection in competition at the Venice Film Festival, Lost illusions arrives in French cinemas. Xavier Giannoli adapts with a fantastic cast and very substantial resources The novel by Honoré de Balzacone of the longest The human comedyand chronicles the rise and fall of Lucien Chardon (Benjamin Voisin), an idealistic young poet from Angoulême who dreams of literary glory, at the beginning of the 19th century.

From Angoulême to Paris, from intellectual salons to editorial offices, Lucien Chardon wants to make a name for himself – that of Lucien de Rubempré, redeeming his mother’s noble title – and access the “high”. Arriving in Paris in the company of Louise de Bargeton (Cécile de France) in 1819, a notable person from Angoulême who had his own connections and with whom he maintained a relationship, Lucien soon found himself alone, a failure and humiliated by Parisian high society . .

After a short period in which he sinks into poverty, he will be helped Etienne Lousteau (Vincent Lacoste), a dubious journalist and editor. He will then enter the world that creates and destroys opinions, experience dazzling fame, become engaged to an actress, Coralie (Salomé Dewaels), and lead a high life abandoning his ideals to become cynical and arrogant. His fall is even harder.

After being humiliated during a show, due to personal grudges and to get to Lucien, Coralie falls ill. The latter, trapped by her former friends-turned-enemies, with his reputation tarnished and unattached, completely ruined, lost everything when Coralie died in September 1822.

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The tragedy of The human comedy

After Coralie’s burial in a mass grave, Lucien has a brief exchange with Nathan d’Anastazio (Xavier Dolan), a successful writer – and voice-over of this story -, who makes him understand what time it is returned from his “lost illusions”who has become himself again, an idealistic young writer who has lost the cynical and hypocritical game he played.

The top floorsLost illusions it then shows Lucien walking through a field and forest in the sun, before entering a lake naked. The voiceover concludes:

He knew this lake since childhood. When he entered the freezing water, he didn’t know whether he wanted to purify himself or die. He stood there for a moment. She would stop hoping and start living.

The film ends with Luciano’s facefacing the camera, shaking and covered in tears.

Does Lucien de Rubempré die at the end of the film?

Xavier Giannoli did a great job of adaptingLost illusions, with a freedom needed to bring Lucien’s story to an end. In fact, in the third part of Balzac’s novel, after Coralie’s death, Lucien returns to Angoulême and finds himself involved in a legal and financial affair in which his brother-in-law finds himself involved through his fault. Consumed by remorse, Lucien decides to do it commit suicide and then leaves for to drown.

But along the way he meets an intriguing Spaniard who calls himself an abbot and diplomat. He offers to give him everything he needs and everything he dreams of, if Lucien obeys him. Lucien therefore decides not to commit suicide. This other story that begins is that of the second novel in which Lucien de Rubempré appears: Splendours and miseries of courtesanscovering his life from late 1823 to 1830.

Xavier Giannoli thus offered an original conclusion to his Lost illusionsnot telling the last part of Balzac’s book – that of the return to Angoulême – but still using the end, that is to say the moment in which Lucien goes to the lake to drown himself. Only, it stages an ending where Luciano does not meet the Spanish abbot and I would therefore suggest, a priori, that it will at the end of his attempt.

An open ending

We can then trust the suggestion of the filmmaker, who remains faithful to Balzac’s character since Lucien hanged himself in his cell in 1830, at the end of Splendours and miseries of courtesans ? Or are we to believe that, as Nathan says in the voiceover, Lucien maybe “purify yourself, stop hoping and start living“, and thus rebuild your life?

It is therefore up to each spectator, faced with this destiny brilliantly written by Xavier Giannoli as well as intensely embodied by Benjamin Voisin, and before this last shot, to decide what will become of this tragic character.

Source: Cine Serie

Ray

Ray Ortiz is a journalist at Gossipify, known for his coverage of trending news and current events. He is committed to providing readers with accurate and unbiased reporting, and is respected for his ability to keep readers informed on the latest news and issues.