Michel Houellebecq

In September 2011 writer Michel Houellebecq briefly disappeared off the face of the earth. Wild rumours began circulating on the Internet that he’d been abducted by Al-Qaeda or aliens from outer space. Some Twitter users even expressed relief that the controversial author was suddenly no longer around. This film now reveals what really happened: Three tough guys variously with impressive hairstyles and bodybuilder physiques carried off the star intellectual, taking him out of the daily stress of dodging autograph hunters and having his flat renovated and bringing him to a beautiful rural underdog idyll, full of dog grooming, bodybuilding demonstrations, junk cars and Polish sausages. But who was to pay the ransom?

Paul, a call center employee, is completely burnt out. One Friday 13, a television news report seems to be a signal that he must take action. Determined to give concrete expression to his gesture, he flees to the mountain, where he'll experience a unique event.

Iggy Pop reads and recites Michel Houellebecq’s manifesto. The documentary features real people from Houellebecq’s life with the text based on their life stories.

Wahid Gordji is an Iranian diplomat suspected of the attack at 'rue de Rennes'. Yet, he is ultimately absolved when French hostages in Lebanon are released. Political scandal in France: there is suspicion that the government had intervened in the case and to have exchanged the liberation of the hostages with that of Gordj. Discredited, the judge commits suicide. Mitterand and Chirac keep lobbing the responsibility of the case to each other.

In an old castle, Johnny de Winter-Smythe gives shelter to a mad painter, whom he martyrizes, helped by a hunchback butler. A traveler then arrives, drawn to the castle by the spectral apparition of a woman...

Poet, essayist, novelist and filmmaker, Michel Houellebecq has always had close ties with the cinema and the world of the visual arts, which have accompanied and extended his reflexions since the start of his career, as the frequent allusions to them in his novels attest. This portrait of Houellebecq is from his early days of bad boy provocateur stardom. Having just published Plateforme in french and enjoying the many translations of Les Particules élémentaires.

La Possibilité d'une île is a 2008 film directed by Michel Houellebecq, loosely based on his 2005 novel The Possibility of an Island.

Every year, Bruno makes a tour of all the wine stands, without setting foot outside the Show’s premises and without ever finishing his wine trail. This year, his father suggests they finish it together, but a real wine trail, across the French countryside. Accompanied by Mike, a young, quirky taxi driver, they set off in the direction of France’s major wine regions. Together, they are going to discover not only the wine trails, but also the road that leads back to Love.

Jean-Louis Aubert with Michel Houellebecq perform "Isolement" by Houellebecq in a restaurant. Aubert composed the music to Houellebecq's poetry for the album "Aubert chante Houellebecq : Les Parages du Vide", published in the spring of 2014.

What was your first desire? What did you long for most? Arielle Dombasle put these questions to a wide circle of famous people.

A struggling writer finds a shortcut to fame, but a blackmailer threatens to ruin his perfect life.

About the new novel « Sérotonine » by Michel Houellebecq with a first edition of 500 000 copies for the French, German, Italian and Spanish market.

Michel Houellebecq and Bertrand Burgalat perform songs from the album "Présence Humaine" in at the Kantine in Cologne, Germany,

Provocative French writer Michel Houellebecq meets Gérard Depardieu at a sea water therapy centre in Cabourg. Together, they try to survive the health regime to which they are subjected by the establishment. But events quickly derail their routine… Just Great is a joyful comedy elevated by two extraordinary performances.

In a provincial suburb, three neighbours come to terms with the consequences of the new world of social media. Marie, who lives off her husband’s family allowance, is afraid of losing her son’s respect because of a sex tape. Bertrand can’t say no to advertising calls and is fighting to protect his daughter, who is being bullied online. Christine, after losing everything because of her addiction to TV series, wonders why her rating as an Uber driver is not taking off. These three lone fighters are incapable of finding a solution to their problems on their own — until they join forces to declare war on the tech giants.

Tony is a macho middle-aged school bus driver in the provinces with no friends or relations. A sudden heart attack throws him into a tailspin. Tony's convinced he's going to die. When his cardiologist warns him : We all need others. Alone, we're nothing. Tony decides to reconnect with the daughter he abandoned twenty years earlier, when she was just a baby. Still a coward, he's unable to screw up the courage to actually confront her directly. So he decides to sign up for a dance class she's teaching in Paris. Incognito, of course. To get to know her gradually… in a desperate attempt to give some meaning to his empty life. In the process, he has more than a few dance steps to learn!

Michel Houellebecq travels to Guadeloupe to take part in a look-alike contest, whose jury is chaired by Blanche Gardin. But unforeseen events will plunge our duo into the heart of a bizarre intrigue.

In this second installment of his exploration of creativity, Hermann Vaske looks for factors that inhibit it. He asks artists, activists, and thinkers about things that kill their creativity.

Vivement dimanche

Quotidien is a French television program presented by Yann Barthès and broadcast from September 12, 2016 on TMC.

A weekly BBC Two magazine programme focusing on the best of the week's arts and culture news, covering books, art, film, architecture and more.