S’il fallait rater sa vie, mieux valait la rater à Paris.

Lost Illusions moves fast, but draws the eye with gorgeous draping, lighting, and detail. Like its antihero, the viewer is apt to be seduced by the movie’s maneuvering through decadent pleasures. The narration, a currently unpopular device, helpfully prods and foreshadows the action. Lead actor Voisin, star of François Ozon’s Summer of 85, adeptly inhabits a character who faces the world with opportunism but is also capable of love and sincerity. Rich as his film’s style is, Giannoli flips it to convey irredeemable darkness. A scene of a cadaver dumped into a pauper’s grave in the rain is unforgettably chilling and sad. Like other moral tales of its period, Lost Illusions ends on a note of damnation, but it’s been quite a journey up and way down—and an intoxicating one. Caroline Ely