The plot could have come from one of controversial French author Michel Houellebecq’s own dark novels – an aging writer stars in a porn movie, only to regret it later.
But the drama really played out in a Dutch court on Tuesday when a judge rejected a bid by the best-selling novelist to ban an erotic film in which he stars himself.
A trailer released in January showed the shirtless 67-year-old kissing and caressing a young woman in bed in Dutch filmmaker Stefan Ruitenbeek’s movie “Kirac 27.”
Houellebecq, whose best-selling works are ‘Submission’ and ‘Atomised’, complained that the film damaged his reputation and that he had signed an unfair contract while under the influence of alcohol.
An Amsterdam judge disagreed.
Houellebecq (pictured in the Kirac 27 trailer) said he signed the contract to participate in the film when he was drunk and depressed
A trailer released in January showed the shirtless 67-year-old kissing and fondling a young woman in bed
April 28, 2015 file photo shows French author Michel Houellebecq during the presentation of his book ‘Submission’ in Barcelona, Spain
“It is incomprehensible why Houellebecq cooperated in the recordings if he found the agreement really problematic,” the judge said in a written decision, denying the author’s request and ordering the writer to pay 1,393 euros in costs.
Houellebecq found the verdict “very disappointing”, his Dutch lawyer Jacqueline Schaap told AFP.
“Mr Houellebecq is seriously considering an urgent appeal,” she said.
In February, Houellebecq lost a similar bid in a French court.
It’s a bizarre chapter, even by the standards of French literature’s bad boy, whose books sell millions but who is often accused of misogyny and far-right sympathies.
It all started during a dinner party in Paris in November 2022, when Houellebecq’s wife Lysis told Ruitenbeek that, according to the verdict, the writer wanted to “make a porn film to counteract his gloom.”
The director filmed Houellebecq having sex in Paris with Jini van Rooijen, a philosophy student with whom the director works.
The French author and his wife then came to Amsterdam in December, where they signed a contract for the film.
The director said in the trailer that Houellebecq contacted him after his honeymoon in Morocco was called off due to security fears, and that he was depressed because Lysis had “booked prostitutes for a month,” but it fell through.
“I told him that I knew enough girls in Amsterdam who would have sex with a famous writer out of curiosity, and that I would arrange the hotel for him if I had permission to film everything,” said Ruitenbeek.
But Houellebecq said in court documents AFP recognized that he was “at the mercy” of Ruitenbeek by the contract.
‘I was tired, the day had been long and the necessary wine had already been drunk’, says the writer.
“I have no ambition to become a porn star at my age.”
Michel Houellebecq and his wife Qianyum Lysis Li are photographed for Paris Match on the masquerade night before the opening of the new Laperouse restaurant on June 19, 2019 in Paris, France
Houellebecq is pictured in the ‘Kirac 27’ trailer
A controversial writer, Houellebecq is often accused of tapping into France’s right-wing fears of Islam. In 2015, Houellebecq published the international headlines ‘Submission’ about a Muslim who wins the presidency
Relations broke up shortly after filming and deteriorated even further after the release of the trailer.
The writer also complained that Ruitenbeek gave an interview to the news site Vice in February, in which he said that Houellebecq was “very good in bed.”
The Dutch court ruled that although the contract was ‘far from balanced’ and gave the director extensive rights, it was not illegal.
The evidence was “insufficient to believe that his judgment was impaired by fatigue and alcohol” or depression, the ruling said.
Ruitenbeek said he was relieved by the decision.
‘It has always been my intention to make a portrait with integrity. Hopefully Michel is happy with the result,” he said in a statement from his lawyer.
A controversial writer, Houellebecq is often accused of tapping into France’s right-wing fears of Islam.
In 2015, Houellebecq published the international headlines ‘Submission’ about a Muslim who wins the presidency.
Last year he was tipped as a contender for the Nobel Prize in Literature, although it ultimately went to France’s Annie Ernaux, who called Houellebecq’s ideas “entirely reactionary and anti-feminist.”