Unable to Stop His Own Porn Film

Writer Michel Houellebecq wants to stop a porn film in which he appears. The director is asking the public for help. “A visionary project,” says an editor at Natt & Dag.

For the past year, Dutch director Stefan Ruitenbeek has been in conflict with one of France's bestselling authors: Michel Houellebecq, 68.

“It looks as though the film is going to be exceptional,” the director says in a recent statement.

In 2021, Ruitenbeek's art collective KIRAC made a porn film with Houellebecq. The writer later regretted it and has gone to court to have it stopped.

The courts have not ruled in Houellebecq's favour. Nevertheless, the film's future has remained uncertain.

Now the director confirms that the film will be released, but that they face new challenges.

What actually happened?

Ruitenbeek came into contact with Houellebecq in 2019. They agreed to work on a project together. In November 2022, the writer arrived on set in Amsterdam. Ruitenbeek brought four young women.

“You can call it porn if you like. But I see it as a work of art,” Ruitenbeek told Aftenposten in February last year.

At that point, the director had just learned that Houellebecq intended to take him to court over “defamatory” and “false” claims in the film's trailer.

Among other things, the trailer alleges that Houellebecq's wife arranged for her husband to have access to prostitutes during a trip to Morocco. In an open letter, the author called the trailer “violent” and wrote that his wife “is devastated by the lies”. He repeated his dissatisfaction in his book A Few Months in My Life.

Courts in both France and the Netherlands concluded that the contract Houellebecq signed with KIRAC gave the art collective the right to use all footage of the author, except shots in which his face and genitals can be seen at the same time.

The court ruled that Houellebecq must be allowed to review the final result before publication. If he is not satisfied, he may take the Dutch filmmakers to court again.

Asking for help in the fight

The film with Houellebecq has developed into a much larger art project, KIRAC explains in a video on its website. The drama surrounding the film itself will be included.

That has also made the project more expensive than planned. Last week, Ruitenbeek therefore sent an appeal to KIRAC's supporters:

“We are at a decisive stage in editing this major project, and we are running out of funds,” he writes in the email, which Aftenposten has also received. He asks for financial support.

“This will not happen without your help,” the director writes.

In the new video on KIRAC's website, he explains that the Houellebecq film is about more than sex. He sees it as part of a struggle between the traditional art represented by Houellebecq and the new art forms KIRAC is making.

Editor: “Incredibly visionary”

Expectations for the project are now high, says Eilif Guldvog Hartvedt.

He is the society editor at Natt & Dag and has followed the drama from the beginning. He has also interviewed philosophy student Jini van Rooijen, one of Houellebecq's co-stars in the film.

“The film has outgrown the dimensions it was originally supposed to have a year ago. It is no longer simply a film people called a porn film, which was supposed to be a documentary but also partly fiction.”

Hartvedt believes the project is now more concerned with probing the big questions of what sexuality and art are.

“It crosses boundaries, but it is also an incredibly visionary project,” Hartvedt says.

Facts: Michel Houellebecq

Born in 1956 on the French island of La Réunion, east of Madagascar.

Regarded as one of France's greatest contemporary writers. He has received several literary awards, including the Prix Goncourt for The Map and the Territory, France's most prestigious literary prize.

His best-known books include Whatever (1994), The Elementary Particles (2000) and Submission (2015).

He has been involved in numerous controversies over his harsh statements about Islam and immigration.