Scandal author Houellebecq in sex film: ‘The dumbest thing I’ve ever done’

Writer Michel Houellebecq says he regrets the contract with a Dutch filmmaker for an alleged sex film.

“That was perhaps the dumbest thing I’ve ever done in my life,” said the Frenchman of the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”. “When you read the contract, you get the feeling that a mentally handicapped person could have signed it. It’s scary. But many people sign contracts without actually reading them.”

The author debates with filmmaker Stefan Ruitenbeek about the alleged sex film starring Houellebecq. The 65-year-old wanted the film, which was called porn by some media outlets, to be banned after seeing the trailer. In it, Houellebecq was seen shirtless kissing a young woman. However, partly because of the current contract, the Frenchman was defeated in the legal dispute before a Dutch judge. He announced that he would appeal the verdict.

“It’s a monstrous contract. To be honest, the fact that I was able to sign it doesn’t really support my judgment,” said Houellebecq. “It’s disturbing. It’s really shocking that I signed that.”

The writer emphasized in the SZ interview, “I was not in a very cheerful state when I signed this contract.” Houellebecq’s lawyers said before the Amsterdam court that he was depressed and drunk when he signed the contract.

However, the judge did not find this credible, because the recordings took place some time after the contract was signed and Houellebecq was willing to cooperate. The artists’ collective speaks of an art film in which the boundary between fiction and truth is not always clear. The film was originally set to be released online on March 11.

“I actually feel like women who have been raped are saying, they feel like their body isn’t quite theirs anymore. They are ashamed when they shouldn’t be ashamed. But they are still ashamed. And then they are disgusted by sex,” Houellebecq told the newspaper. “I now have all these symptoms. I didn’t expect that, not at all.” (aeg/sda/dpa)