Award Shows, Film
Feb 25, 2022

France’s ‘Cesar Awards’ Sends ‘Lost Illusions’ Home With Best Film Win!

The Cesar Awards are France’s equivalent of The Academy Awards. This year the prestigious win for best film was snagged by Lost Illusions.

Xavier Giannoli’s ambitious period drama Lost Illusions lived up to his gamble when it took home the coveted Cesar for best film. Lost Illusions was the front-runner at this year’s Cesars, with an impressive 15 nominations. Lost Illusions picked up 7 awards, including the best male newcomer nod for star Benjamin Voisin, best-adapted screenplay for Xavier Giannoli and Jacques Fieschi’s big-screen version of the Honoré de Balzac’s classic novel, a best-supporting actor award for Vincent Lacoste, best cinematography for Christophe Beaucarne, best costume design for Pierre-Jean Laroque, and best set design for Riton Dupire-Clement. Phew, trying saying all of the outloud in a single breath. The picture is scrumptuous and the awards don’t lie. This well deserved win for Lost Illusions deserves bravo’s all around with boisterous applause. We love seeing story driven films win at award shows. As much as we love a great cgi fight scene, nothing compares to the intimacy that character driven films bring us. Isn’t that why we all fell in love with the movies in the first place? The characters? Yes. A well deserved win for the entire filmmaking team.

The plot of Lost Illusions revolves around the young and ambitious, but poor poet Lucien de Rubempré (Voisin), who starts up a forbidden affair with the baroness Louise de Bargeton (Cécile de France). Music Box picked up North American rights for the film, make sure to keep your eyes peeled for a North American release date.