Christophe Honoré (born 10 April 1970) is a French writer and film and theatre director.

Career

Honoré was born in

Carhaix Carhaix-Plouguer (; br, Karaez-Plougêr ), commonly known as just Carhaix (), is a commune in the French department of Finistère, region of Brittany, France.Finistère Finistère (, ; br, Penn-ar-Bed ) is a department of France in the extreme west of Brittany. In 2019, it had a population of 915,090.

. After moving to Paris in 1995, he wrote articles in '' Les Cahiers du Cinéma''. He started writing soon after. His 1996 book ''Tout contre Léo'' ('' Close to Leo'') talks about HIV and is aimed at young adults; he made it into a film in 2002. He wrote other books for young adults throughout the late 1990s. His first play, ''Les Débutantes'', was performed at Avignon's Off Festival in 1998. In 2005, he returned to Avignon to present ''Dionysos impuissant'' in the "In" Festival, with

Joana Preiss Joana Preiss (born 22 May 1972) is a French actress, director, singer, and performer. Life and career Joana Preiss has starred in the films of Christophe Honoré, Olivier Assayas, Nobuhiro Suwa and Pia Marais, and has also collaborated with Nan G ...

and

Louis Garrel Louis Garrel (born 14 June 1983) is a French actor and filmmaker. He is best known for his starring role in '' The Dreamers'', directed by Bernardo Bertolucci.

playing the leads. A well-known director, he is considered an "auteur" in French cinema. His 2006 film '' Dans Paris'' has led him to be considered by French critics as the heir to the

Nouvelle Vague French New Wave (french: La Nouvelle Vague) is a French art film movement that emerged in the late 1950s. The movement was characterized by its rejection of traditional filmmaking conventions in favor of experimentation and a spirit of iconocla ...

cinema. In 2007, '' Les Chansons d'amour'' was one of the films selected to be in competition at the

2007 Cannes Film Festival The 60th Cannes Film Festival ran from 16 to 27 May 2007. The President of the Jury was British director Stephen Frears. Twenty two films from twelve countries were selected to compete for the Palme d'Or. The awards were announced on 26 May. '' 4 ...

. Honoré is openly gay, and some of his movies or screenplays (among them '' Les Filles ne savent pas nager'', '' Dix-sept fois Cécile Cassard'' and '' Les Chansons d'amour'') deal with gay or lesbian relations. His film '' Plaire, aimer et courir vite'' (''Sorry Angel''), about a writer who has contracted HIV in the 1990s, won the Louis Delluc Prize for Best Film in 2018. Honoré has been the screenwriter for some of Gaël Morel's films. The actors

Louis Garrel Louis Garrel (born 14 June 1983) is a French actor and filmmaker. He is best known for his starring role in '' The Dreamers'', directed by Bernardo Bertolucci.

and

Chiara Mastroianni Chiara Charlotte Mastroianni (born 28 May 1972) is a French actress and singer. She is the daughter of Marcello Mastroianni and Catherine Deneuve. Early life Mastroianni was born to French actress Catherine Deneuve and Italian actor Marcello Ma ...

have each had roles in several of his films. Honoré has also directed several operas for the stage. For the

Opéra de Lyon This is a glossary list of opera genres, giving alternative names. "Opera" is an Italian word (short for "opera in musica"); it was not at first ''commonly'' used in Italy (or in other countries) to refer to the genre of particular works. Most c ...

he directed Poulenc's ''

Dialogues of the Carmelites ' (''Dialogues of the Carmelites''), FP 159, is an opera in three acts, divided into twelve scenes with linking orchestral interludes, with music and libretto by Francis Poulenc, completed in 1956. The composer's second opera, Poulenc wrote the ...

'' in 2013, Debussy's '' Pelléas et Mélisande'' in 2015, and Verdi's ''

Don Carlos ''Don Carlos'' is a five-act grand opera composed by Giuseppe Verdi to a French-language libretto by Joseph Méry and Camille du Locle, based on the dramatic play '' Don Carlos, Infant von Spanien'' (''Don Carlos, Infante of Spain'') by Fried ...

'' in 2018. He also presented his production of Mozart's ''

Così fan tutte (''All Women Do It, or The School for Lovers''), K. 588, is an opera buffa in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It was first performed on 26 January 1790 at the Burgtheater in Vienna, Austria. The libretto was written by Lorenzo Da Ponte ...

'' at the

Aix-en-Provence Festival The Festival d'Aix-en-Provence is an annual international music festival which takes place each summer in Aix-en-Provence, principally in July. Devoted mainly to opera, it also includes concerts of orchestral, chamber, vocal and solo instrumental ...

and the

Edinburgh Festival __NOTOC__ This is a list of arts and cultural festivals regularly taking place in Edinburgh, Scotland. The city has become known for its festivals since the establishment in 1947 of the Edinburgh International Festival and the Edinburgh F ...

in 2016, and Puccini's ''

Tosca ''Tosca'' is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900. The work, based on Victorien Sardou's 1887 French-language dramati ...

'' at Aix-en-Provence in 2019; both of these productions adopted a radical approach to traditional works. In the summer of 2020 Honoré's rehearsals of his stage production of ''Le Côté de Guermantes'', based on the third volume of Proust's ''

In Search of Lost Time ''In Search of Lost Time'' (french: À la recherche du temps perdu), first translated into English as ''Remembrance of Things Past'', and sometimes referred to in French as ''La Recherche'' (''The Search''), is a novel in seven volumes by French ...

'', were interrupted by restrictions to combat the

COVID-19 epidemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identifie ...

and it became impossible to present it at the

Comédie-Française The Comédie-Française () or Théâtre-Français () is one of the few state theatres in France. Founded in 1680, it is the oldest active theatre company in the world. Established as a French state-controlled entity in 1995, it is the only state ...

as planned. With his troupe of actors he decided to make a film about the production and the uncertainties they were now facing, and the film ''Guermantes'' was released in September 2021.

Filmography

Novels

*1995 : ''Tout contre Léo'' (jeunesse), turned into a film in 2002 *1996 : ''C'est plus fort que moi'' (jeunesse) *1997 : ''Je joue très bien tout seul'' (jeunesse) *1997 : ''L'Affaire petit Marcel'' (jeunesse) *1997 : ''L’Infamille'' ( Éditions de l'Olivier, ) *1998 : ''Zéro de lecture'' (jeunesse) *1998 : ''Une toute petite histoire d'amour'' (jeunesse) *1998 : ''Je ne suis pas une fille à papa'' (jeunesse) *1999 : ''Les Nuits où personne ne dort'' (jeunesse) *1999 : ''Mon cœur bouleversé'' (jeunesse) *1999 : ''Bretonneries'' (jeunesse) *1999 : ''La Douceur'' (Éditions de L'Olivier, )

Theatre and opera

Actor

* 1998: ''Les Débutantes'' * 2001: ''Le Pire du troupeau'' * 2004: ''Beautiful Guys'' * 2005: ''Dionysos impuissant'' * 2012: ''La Faculté'' * 2012: ''Un jeune se tue'' * 2012: ''Nouveau Roman'' * 2015: ''Violentes femmes''

Director

* 2009 : ''

Angelo, Tyrant of Padua ''Angelo, Tyrant of Padua'' (french: Angelo, tyran de Padoue) is an 1835 play by the French writer Victor Hugo. It is a historical work on podestà ''Angelo'', set in Padua in northern Italy. It was a return to the theatre for Hugo, whose previo ...

'' by

Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms. He is considered to be one of the great ...

Festival d'Avignon The ''Festival d'Avignon'', or Avignon Festival, is an annual arts festival held in the French city of Avignon every summer in July in the courtyard of the Palais des Papes as well as in other locations of the city. Founded in 1947 by Jean Vila ...

* 2012 : ''Nouveau Roman'',

Théâtre national de la Colline The Théâtre national de la Colline is a theatre at 15, rue Malte-Brun in the 20th arrondissement of Paris. The closest métro station is Gambetta. It is one of the five national theatres dedicated to drama which are entirely supported by the Fr ...

* 2013 : ''

'' by

Francis Poulenc Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc (; 7 January 189930 January 1963) was a French composer and pianist. His compositions include mélodie, songs, solo piano works, chamber music, choral pieces, operas, ballets, and orchestral concert music. Among th ...

, Opéra National de Lyon * 2015 : ''Fin de l'Histoire'' by

Witold Gombrowicz Witold Marian Gombrowicz (August 4, 1904 – July 24, 1969) was a Polish writer and playwright. His works are characterised by deep psychological analysis, a certain sense of paradox and absurd, anti-nationalist flavor. In 1937 he published his fi ...

, Théâtre de Lorient * 2015 : '' Pelléas et Mélisande'' by

Claude Debussy (Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionism in music, Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most infl ...

, Opéra National de Lyon * 2016 : ''

'' by

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...

and

Edinburgh International Festival The Edinburgh International Festival is an annual arts festival in Edinburgh, Scotland, spread over the final three weeks in August. Notable figures from the international world of music (especially european classical music, classical music) and ...

* 2018 : ''

'' by

Verdi Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for his operas. He was born near Busseto to a provincial family of moderate means, receiving a musical education with the ...

, Opéra National de Lyon * 2019 : ''Les Idoles'' by Christophe Honoré, Odéon-Théâtre de l'Europe * 2019 : ''

'' by Puccini,

References

* Gerstner, David A. and Julien Nahmias. ''Christophe Honoré: A Critical Introduction''. * Rees-Roberts, Nick. ''French Queer Cinema''. Edinburgh University Press, 2008.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Honore, Christophe 1970 births Living people People from Finistère 20th-century French novelists 21st-century French novelists French film directors French gay writers LGBT film directors LGBT screenwriters French male screenwriters French screenwriters French male novelists 20th-century French male writers 21st-century French male writers Rennes 2 University alumni 21st-century LGBT people