It is not until the final scene when the Lieutenant opens her mail to find a picture of Mignon's African American boyfriend that it is clear to the audience that she has been passing as a white woman and is actually an African American woman, just like the young girl Esther Jeeter that they use at their whim.

Illusions along with Daughters of the Dust have become significant pieces in the study of independent film and have each gained success in their own right.

Illusions, a period piece set in the 1940s, confronts Hollywood discrimination during the World War II era that subjected people of color and varying race.

Anne Christine D’Adesky, a critic from The Guardian wrote that "Illusions beats with a strong feminist heart: in the film, Mignon Dupree (protagonist) learns to reject the Hollywood model but also to create her own..." (September 7, 1983).

Marcia Pally from The Village Voice applauds that Illusions “Cleverly uses film itself as a metaphor for the myths fostered by whites and men about Blacks and women”.

Hartman and Jasmine Griffin concur by stating, Illusions explores questions of race, representation, and gender in Hollywood cinema-in particular, the absence of ‘meaningful’ and ‘realistic’ images of our lives”.

Illusions also was nominated in 1988 for a Cable ACE Award in Art Direction and was the season opener of "Likely Stories", The Learning Channels series focusing on independent film.

[5] Illusions is available to rent through the Black Filmmakers Foundation, Women Make Movies, and Third World Newsreel (New York); Circles-Women's Films and Video Distribution (London); Le Soliel O (Paris).