Adapted from Balzac’s eponymous novel Illusions perdues (1837-43), and resonating with our times, the period drama is set in 1821 in Paris, where Lucien Rubempré, the idealistic young poet from Angoulême, succeeds as a gifted critic in acceding to the artistic and literary circles of the haute bourgeoisie even as he realizes the cynicism of an economic system where everything can be bought.