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

Career

Honoré was born in

Carhaix Carhaix-Plouguer (; ), commonly known as just Carhaix (), is a commune in the French department of Finistère, region of Brittany, France. The commune was created in 1957 by the merger of the former communes Carhaix and Plouguer.

Finistère Finistère (, ; ) is a Departments of France, department of France in the extreme west of Brittany. Its prefecture is Quimper and its largest city is Brest, France, Brest. In 2019, it had a population of 915,090.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 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 (2003 film), 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 The New Wave (, ), also called the French New Wave, 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 i ...

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 was held from 16 to 27 May 2007. British filmmaker Stephen Frears served as jury president for the main competition. Romanian filmmaker Cristian Mungiu won the Palme d'Or for the drama film ''4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 ...

. Honoré is openly gay, and some of his movies or screenplays (among them , '' 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 The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of '' Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the im ...

in the 1990s, won the

Louis Delluc Prize The Louis Delluc Prize ( ) is a French film award presented annually since 1937. The award is bestowed to the Best Film and Best First Film of the year on the second week of each December. The jury is composed of 20 members, consisting of a group ...

for Best Film in 2018. Honoré has been the screenwriter for some of

Gaël Morel Gaël Morel (born 25 September 1972) is a French film director, screenwriter and actor. Life and career Morel was born in Villefranche-sur-Saône, Rhône (department), Rhône, France, a town of 30,000 inhabitants outside Lyon. He grew up in th ...

'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 (2003 film), The Dreamers'', directed by Bernardo Bertolucci.

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

Opéra de Lyon The Opéra de Lyon (also known as Opéra Nouvel, formerly Grand Théâtre) in Lyon, France, is the home of the Opéra National de Lyon. The original opera house was re-designed by the distinguished French architect, Jean Nouvel between 1985 and 19 ...

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. Poulenc wrote the libretto for his second ...

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

Don Carlos ''Don Carlos'' is an 1867 five-act grand opera composed by Giuseppe Verdi to a French-language libretto by Joseph Méry and Camille du Locle, based on the 1787 play '' Don Karlos, Infant von Spanien'' (''Don Carlos, Infante of Spain'') by Fried ...

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

Così fan tutte (''Women are like that, or The School for Lovers''), Köchel catalogue, 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 ...

'' 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 instrumenta ...

and the

Edinburgh Festival __NOTOC__ This is a list of Arts festival, 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 ...

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 dell'Opera di Roma, Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900. The work, based on Victorien Sardou's 1 ...

'' 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'' (), 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 author Marcel Proust. This early twen ...

'', were interrupted by restrictions to combat the

COVID-19 epidemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

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'' by

Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo, vicomte Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romanticism, Romantic author, poet, essayist, playwright, journalist, human rights activist and politician. His most famous works are the novels ''The Hunchbac ...

Festival d'Avignon The ''Festival d'Avignon'', or Avignon Festival (), is an annual arts festival held in the France, 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 ...

* 2012 : ''Nouveau Roman'',

, Théâtre national de la Colline * 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-nationalism, anti-nationalist flavor. In 1937, ...

, 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 influe ...

, Opéra National de Lyon * 2016 : ''

'' by

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...

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, a small town in the province of Parma, to a family of moderate means, recei ...

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

'' by

Puccini Giacomo Puccini (22 December 1858 29 November 1924) was an Italian composer known primarily for his operas. Regarded as the greatest and most successful proponent of Italian opera after Verdi, he was descended from a long line of composers, s ...

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 French LGBTQ film directors French LGBTQ 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 French LGBTQ people