NRC — Houellebecq loses court case over KIRAC sex film
Houellebecq — After recording sex scenes with the Dutch art collective KIRAC, Houellebecq tried to prevent the distribution of a sex film starring himself. For now, that attempt has failed, as became clear in the Paris court on Friday.
Tristan Theirlynck. 3 March 2023.
On Friday, the French writer Michel Houellebecq (Submission, Atomised) lost his application for an injunction against the distribution of a sex film starring himself. A French judge ruled that the film’s trailer did not violate his privacy and ordered the writer to pay a small sum to Stefan Ruitenbeek of KIRAC, the film’s producer.
On 23 January, the whole world saw the famous French writer Michel Houellebecq rolling around in bed with a young woman. It was only a short clip, without nudity, from the trailer for the Dutch art collective KIRAC’s 27th film. But it promised more: the film was due for release on 11 March. It would show the 67-year-old writer having sex with several young women in a hotel in Amsterdam.
Although the scenes were filmed with Houellebecq’s consent, he turned out to have changed his mind. In early February, it emerged that the writer wanted to block the film’s release. Houellebecq and his wife Qianyun Li issued a press release: they had hired a lawyer to prohibit the film’s screening and exploitation, both commercial and non-commercial. Their grounds were that the film would unlawfully damage Houellebecq’s privacy and image.
Damages
An application for an injunction was heard in France on 28 February. Court documents show that Houellebecq was suing Stefan Ruitenbeek of KIRAC for €200,000 in damages: €100,000 for him and €100,000 for Li. The film was also to be barred from distribution, and Stefan Ruitenbeek required to remove the trailer from all channels. KIRAC would furthermore be prohibited from using the following sentence: ‘He wrote to me that his planned honeymoon trip to Morocco had been cancelled […] his wife had spent a month arranging the prostitutes in advance from Paris…’
KIRAC’s main argument, presented by lawyer Virginie Tesnière, was that Houellebecq had signed a contract consenting to the production and broadcast of the ‘artistic, fictional, documentary, performative, essayistic, erotic and pornographic’ film, without retaining any right to influence it. Video footage shows that Ruitenbeek’s claims about prostitutes were based on statements by Li and Houellebecq.
More importantly, most of the filming took place in Amsterdam. And the contract contains a clause stating that the legal agreement between Houellebecq and Ruitenbeek was entered into under Dutch law, meaning only a Dutch court would have jurisdiction in a dispute.
On Friday, the judge decided that the French court had no jurisdiction to rule on the publication and distribution of the final film. It was, however, entitled to rule on the trailer’s broadcast. But on that point, too, it ruled against Houellebecq. Houellebecq and Li must also pay €2,000 to Stefan Ruitenbeek of KIRAC, plus the costs of the proceedings.
Houellebecq may still appeal. He could also challenge the release of the full film in the Netherlands. That would be a difficult battle, however. Dutch privacy law is less strict than French law.
KIRAC will not meet the 11 March release date promised in the trailer. The film has been delayed, partly because of the court case. Court documents now estimate its release in early May. The premiere evening on 11 March at the Betty Asfalt Complex in Amsterdam still appears set to go ahead, but with a different programme.