Biography
Christophe Honoré (born April 10, 1970, in Carhaix) is a French author and director specializing in film and theatre.
Originating from Carhaix, Finistère, Honoré moved to Paris in 1995, where he contributed to Les Cahiers du Cinéma. Shortly thereafter, he began writing. His 1996 novel Tout contre Léo (Close to Leo), addressing HIV and targeting young adults, was adapted into a film in 2002. Throughout the late 1990s, he authored additional young adult books. His debut play, Les Débutantes, premiered at Avignon's Off Festival in 1998. In 2005, he returned to Avignon with Dionysos impuissant at the "In" Festival, featuring Joana Preiss and Louis Garrel in leading roles.
An acclaimed director, Honoré is recognized as an auteur in French cinema. His 2006 film Dans Paris earned him recognition from French critics as a successor to the Nouvelle Vague movement. In 2007, Les Chansons d'amour was selected for competition at the Cannes Film Festival. Openly gay, Honoré often explores LGBTQ+ themes in his work, including films like Les Filles ne savent pas nager, Dix-sept fois Cécile Cassard, and Les Chansons d'amour. His 2018 film Plaire, aimer et courir vite (Sorry Angel), depicting a writer living with HIV in the 1990s, received the Louis Delluc Prize for Best Film. Honoré has also contributed as a screenwriter to several films directed by Gaël Morel. Actors Louis Garrel and Chiara Mastroianni have appeared in multiple films directed by him.
In addition to film and theatre, Honoré has directed opera productions. At the Opéra de Lyon, he staged Poulenc's Dialogues of the Carmelites in 2013, Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande in 2015, and Verdi's Don Carlos in 2018. His productions of Mozart's Così fan tutte at the Aix-en-Provence and Edinburgh Festivals in 2016, and Puccini's Tosca at Aix-en-Provence in 2019, presented radical reinterpretations of these classical works.
During the summer of 2020, rehearsals for his stage adaptation of Le Côté de Guermantes, based on the third volume of Proust's In Search of Lost Time, were halted due to COVID-19 restrictions, preventing its planned performance at the Comédie-Française. In response, Honoré and his ensemble created a film about the production and the uncertainties brought by the pandemic. The film Guermantes premiered in September 2021.
8 wins and 18 nominations
