Feel-good, fabulous, and full of heart, Just an Illusion has earned a place as one of my favourite coming-of-age movies of 2026 so far.
As a Rabbi says midway through Olivier Nakache and Éric Toledano’s heartwarming and hilarious coming-of-age film Just an Illusion, thirteen is an age for existential questions. But thirteen is also an age of infinite wonder, the first embers of love and attraction that will soon become a roaring fire and the moment we open our eyes to the realities of the world around us. Thirteen is daunting, uncertain, yet full of hope, energy and humour as our childhood innocence butts up against the emerging teenager we will become. Just an Illusion captures all of this in a truly sublime comedy-drama that demands repeat viewings, as we join the Dayan family in their two-bed apartment on the outskirts of Paris in 1985.
1985 was a year when France continued to battle and emerge from a period of stagflation, high unemployment, and austerity following the 1970s, and when German Chancellor Helmut Kohl and French President François Mitterrand took further steps toward building a united Europe following their famous reconciliation photo in 1984.
But for 13-year-old Vincent Dayan (Simon Boublil), the political and social changes around him matter less than a few pressing questions: When will the torture of sharing a bedroom with his older brother (Alexis Rosenstiehl) end? When will the plan he and his best friends have to rent a porn video from the local store actually work? When will his parents stop bickering? And most importantly, when is the girl he has a massive crush on, Anne-Karine (Jeanne Lamartine), finally going to notice him?
While these are Vincent’s concerns, that doesn’t mean he hasn’t noticed the family changes around him. His dad, the always-amazing Louis Garrel, seems distant and worried, and his mum, the equally fantastic Camille Cottin, appears to have transformed into a career woman while still doing all the housework, cooking and worrying about the bills. Then there’s his brother, whom he hates and idolises in equal measure, and his entrepreneurial business dealings that are bringing in a lot of cash. It’s all so confusing!
Vincent isn’t a kid anymore, but he isn’t a teenager either; he is stuck in the middle, but by the end of our journey alongside him and the Dayan family, the teenager will fully step out of the shadows in a movie full of charm, sizzling performances, and all the heart, beauty and love I have come to admire in Nakache and Toledano’s previous pictures.
Just an Illusion is a movie built from the director’s shared memories, with Vincent as an amalgamation of both of them at thirteen. Speaking ahead of the UK release, Olivier Nakache said, “These teenage years come back to you in a strange way once you reach your fifties. Maybe because you realise how many decisive moments are concentrated in that period, when you live completely in the present. And maybe also because, once you have teenagers of your own, you start looking back at your own life through them!
In any case, we spent a long time thinking about why we wanted to tackle this subject. It led us in several directions at once: cultural, philosophical and deeply personal. Eric Toledano added, “If we chose to explore that period, it was because Olivier and I both felt ready to reveal more of ourselves in this film than we had in the past”. That reliance on memory and lived experience creates a film lighter in tone yet as deep and beautiful in its exploration of family as another stunning coming-of-age film, Jean-Marc Vallée’s French Canadian gem C.R.A.Z.Y.
While Simon Boublil’s truly outstanding debut performance as Vincent takes centre stage, Louis Garrel and Camille Cottin offer a sparkling, tender, sincere portrait of a marriage in crisis under economic pressure. Even the apartment block caretaker, the fabulous Pierre Lottin and a host of talented young performers get their time in the spotlight, making Just an Illusion a true ensemble piece that revels in exploring each beautifully written and performed character. Add a host of perfectly timed needle drops from The Pointer Sisters to Francis Cabrel, Simply Red and 10cc, and Just an Illusion cements its place as one of the most engaging, creative and heartwarming coming-of-age movies of the year.
Olivier Nakache and Éric Toledano’s film avoids the trap of so many idealised American coming-of-age movies by placing the awkwardness and uncertainty of thirteen alongside the hope and unbridled energy of that brief transition. But it also reminds us of a loss that has markedly changed that transition for young people over the decades since the 1980s: the freedom to experience new things, make mistakes, and find one’s feet in an adult world away from parental control.
The world Vincent grows up in is an analogue world where local kids hang out together, adventures begin with bus rides into town without parental supervision, and youth culture challenges the present and the past. It’s a time that feels more and more like an illusion today. Yet these freedoms offered teens the rites of passage that helped them transition from child to teen, and then teen to adult.
Is Vincent’s experience the same as teens today? No, it’s sadly far more complicated for 13-year-olds now, as they attempt to spread their wings. But does Just an Illusion still represent that longing, humour, uncertainty, and chaos of being thirteen? You bet it does! Feel-good, fabulous, and full of heart, Just an Illusion has earned a place as one of my favourite coming-of-age movies of 2026 so far.
Just an Illusion is now showing in selected cinemas nationwide.
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