In November 2022, the author of "The Map and the Territory" (Prix Goncourt 2010) signed a contract with a Dutch director, Stefan Ruitenbeek, for a pornographic film.
"I didn't think I was famous enough to have a sex tape. It happens to actors, singers, TV presenters, footballers, politicians. To writers, normally, no," he adds.
Asked about the contract signed as part of this shooting, the writer called it "despicable", considering it "absurd" to have signed it.
"But what partially reduces my stupidity is that I had no intention of shooting porn shots at all," he says, saying he did not see a clause allowing "to use the two hours of filming done in Paris".
The writer has been trying for months to ban the images shot at the end of 2022 by the Dutch filmmaker, claiming to have been trapped when he wanted not to be recognizable.
The French justice, considering itself incompetent, had rejected the writer in February of his request to ban the film.
The Dutch court also rejected this request but allowed Mr. Houellebecq on appeal to watch the film "Kirac 27" before its broadcast.
The judges considered justified the fears of the writer that the Dutch filmmaker does not respect part of the agreement defining "a game between reality and fiction", according to which the film must create the illusion of erotic scenes with a lookalike.
If Mr. Houellebecq raises objections and the filmmaker refuses to adjust the film, he can go to court again.
The French novelist will publish on May 24 an account of his setbacks with the Dutch filmmaker, according to Flammarion editions.
Michel Houellebecq is a writer recognized for his quality of observation of the excesses of Western societies. But it is also controversial because of positions deemed racist and Islamophobic.
© 2023 AFP