Frederick Beigbeder personal biography. Frederic Beigbeder: “I wrote that love lasts three years

Frederic Beigbeder (French Frédéric Beigbeder, b. 1965) is a modern French prose writer, publicist, literary critic and editor.

Frederic Beigbeder was born on September 21, 1965 in the city of Nain-sur-Seine near Paris. Beigbeder's mother Christine de Chatenier is a translator of romance novels in French(in particular, the works of Barbara Cartland), and his father, Jean-Michel Beigbeder, is a professional “headhunter”. Brother Charles Beigbeder is the founder of the Selftrade brokerage house and the first private power grid in France, Poweo.

After all that people have done for God, he could still give himself the trouble to exist.

Beigbeder Frederic

Such an unconventional family could not but affect Frederick’s own lifestyle. He loves provocations and self-criticism.

Beigbeder received a diploma from the Paris Institute of Political Studies and then a DESS Diploma in Advertising and Marketing from CELSA ( graduate School information and communication).

As a result, he became a development editor at a large advertising agency, Young and Rubicam. At the same time he collaborated as a literary critic in Elle magazines, Paris Match, Voici ou encore VSD. He was also on the team literary critics in Jérôme Garcin's radio program "Mask and Feather" on France Inter. He was fired from Young and Rubicam some time after the publication of 99 Francs (subsequently retitled 14.99 Euros), a satire and denunciation of the advertising business.

Why, when you love a woman and everything is wonderful with you, she certainly wants to turn you and herself into educators of a whole bunch of snotty babies who scream from morning to night and get under your feet, making it difficult to enjoy your solitude?

Beigbeder Frederic

Meanwhile, he began hosting his own television show about literature, “Books and Me,” on the Paris Première channel. This was followed by an attempt to broadcast l’Hypershow on Canal+, however, the channel’s managers soon closed the program.

He was a free consultant to Robert Yu during the 2002 presidential elections, although he is not a member of the PCF.

Frederic Beigbeder - photo

Frederic Beigbeder - quotes

I thought I was looking for love, until one day I realized that I wanted the exact opposite - to stay away from her.

I dead man. I wake up in the morning, and I unbearably want one thing - to sleep. I dress in black: I mourn for myself. Mourning for the man he did not become.

French novelist, publicist, literary critic, editor, actor and director. He became famous at home and abroad as one of the most interesting French writers-contemporaries. Among his creations are such novels as “Memoirs of an Unreasonable young man"(1990), "Holiday in a Coma" (1995), "Love Lives for Three Years" (1997), "Stories on Ecstasy" (1999), as well as the book "99 Francs", which became a sales leader in 2000 in France, according to based on which the film of the same name was made.

Biography of Frederick Beigbeder

Frederic Beigbeder(Frédéric Beigbeder) was born on September 21, 1965 on the western outskirts of Paris in the commune of Neuilly-sur-Seine (France) in the family of a translator of romance novels into French Christine de Chatenier, a flamboyant representative of the impoverished aristocracy, and a professional recruiter Jean-Michel Beigbeder, who had a bourgeois origin and was reputed to be a reveler. When Frederick was five years old, his parents divorced. At the age of eight, the boy began to write. Primarily to preserve for history rare moments spent next to his father after breaking up with Christine.

Frederic Beigbeder: “I always envied my parents because their youth seemed more exciting to me than my own. They saw the Second World War, then the liberation sixties. What did I see? When I was seven, the economic crisis began, then the computer revolution. In short, nothing fun."

Ross Frederic grew up in the company of his brother Charles, who later became a politician and businessman and founded the brokerage firm Selftrade, as well as France's first private power grid, Poweo. The boys lived mainly with their mother, who in 1974 married Baron Pierre Richard Soultrate. Like his brother, Frederic studied at the Bossuet school in Paris, where, as a seventh-grader, he met the bishop Jean-Michel di Falco, who years later took part in the famous “divine interview” with Beigbeder.

This book called “I Believe - Neither Do I!” Dialogue between a bishop and a wicked man through the mediation of René Guitton” (Je crois Moi non plus: Dialogue entre un évêque et un mécréant) was published in 2004.

Frederic graduated from the Paris Institute of Political Studies, after which he received a DESS Diploma in Advertising and Marketing from the Higher School of Information and Communication (CELSA).

The creative path of Frederic Beigbeder

In the 1980s, Frederick became a co-founder of the sensational “Club of Illiterate Cute Idiots” (Caca’s), which organized closed “provocative” themed parties for golden youth. At the age of 25 he published his first novel - “ Memoirs of an unreasonable young man"(Mémoire d'un jeune homme dérangé), which immediately received recognition in literary circles. In 1994, his “Holidays in a Coma” (Vacances dans le coma) saw the light, and in 1997, the novel “Love Lives for Three Years” (L'amour dure trois ans), based on which fifteen years later Frederic would film his the first picture was a romantic comedy of the same name with Gaspard Proust and Louise Bourgoin.

Beigbeder worked for ten years as a copywriter at the large advertising agency Young and Rubicam, from where he was fired in 2000 due to the publication of his provocative novel “99 Francs,” which denounced the industry that fed him. Along the way, Frederick was a literary critic. Such magazines as Elle, Voici ou encore VSD, Paris Match collaborated with him. In the same capacity he acted in the program Jerome Garcin"Mask and Feather" on France Inter radio station. Later, Begbeder launched his own program about literature - “Books and Me.” It was broadcast on television channel Paris Premier.

By the new millennium for Begbeder, who conquered literary world as a writer, journalist, columnist, critic, publisher, founder (1994) of the Flora Prize, who did not miss various noisy parties and enjoyed swimming in the ocean female attention, the fame of a cynical and impudent macho, a socialite, a defiant scoundrel, a bourgeois, a dandy, a hedonist, a pessimist, an eccentric, courtly and, of course, a talented person was thoroughly established.

Frédéric Beigbeder (from a 2017 interview): “All these clichés about me date back to the publication of my novel 99 Francs, but readers of my later works or viewers of my television programs have a different idea of ​​me as a character. 30 years ago I caused great irritation. It's true. I cultivated “aristocratic pleasure: not pleasing the public,” as the poet Charles Baudelaire called it. I must admit, I succeeded in this! I don’t like exemplary characters, I prefer anti-heroes: Goethe’s Werther, Benjamin Constant’s Adolphe, Don Quixote... I write satire, but it is mistaken for an autobiography, and vice versa. Perhaps this is why misunderstandings arise... I spent a long time talking about myself that I was an ugly, worthless idiot in the hope that I would be refuted: “Oh no, come on, you’re handsome and smart, Frederick!” As they say, he was asking for compliments. This is such a slightly perverted way to look for love. Unfortunately for me, it didn't work: I was taken literally. Well, okay. I like provocations."

In 2002, from the pen of Begbeder, the novel “Windows on the World” (Windows on the world), who won a number of awards, and a year later Frederick, who was a member of the radical anarchist group Black Bloc and hosted Active participation in the anti-globalization movement, received the position of editor at the Flammarion publishing group, where he worked for three years and published about 25 books. In 2004, deeply immersed in psychoanalysis, he showed the world the interview “I believe - I don’t either!” (Je crois Moi non plus: Dialogue entre un évêque et un mécréant), which he worked on for about three years. In 2005, Frederic released the book “The Romantic Egoist” (L"égoïste romantique), and then presented such creations as “The Ideal” (Au secours pardon, 2007), “A French Novel” (Un roman français, 2010), “Una & Salinger" (Oona & Salinger, 2014) and others.

In September 2013, the first issue of the revived cult men's erotic magazine of the 70s, Lui, was published, of which Frederick became editor-in-chief. The cover of the publication then featured a photo of half-naked actress Léa Seydoux (“The Diary of a Maid,” “The Life of Adele,” “The Grand Budapest Hotel”), and Beigbeder himself at that time took part in very explicit filming for the Grand Journal program of the Canal+ TV channel.

From September 2005 to May 2007, Beigbeder acted as a columnist for Michel Denisot's Le Grand Journal. Since 2010, he began writing columns for Le Figaro, while continuing to take part in the weekly program Le Cercle, dedicated to literary and film criticism, on the Canal + Cinéma TV channel. In addition, he does not give up cinema, where in the late 1990s he gained fame not only as a screenwriter, but also as an actor, and in 2012 he presented his directorial debut.

Cinematographic activities of Frederic Beigbeder

In 1999, Frederic starred in a movie for the first time - in a comedy with Arielle Dombasle " The misfortunes of beauty", created according to his script. Then he was invited as an actor to the erotic film “ The Boatman's Daughter"(2001) with a genre star Estelle Desanges, as well as tapes " Deception"(2005) with Isabelle Renault, " How beautiful you are"(2006) with Michelle Larocque, " There are two of us"(2008) with Alain Chabat, " Nice town"(2011) with Sandrine Kiberlain, "Mama's Boy" with Dany Boon and others.

In 2012, Beigbeder presented his directorial work for the first time - a full-length romantic comedy with Gaspard Proust and Louise Bourgoin " Love lives for three years", based on his own novel of the same name.

In the spring of 2017, Frederic brought his next film to Moscow - “Ideal” with Gaspard Proust, Audrey Fleurot and Alexei Guskov, who played the role of a reckless oligarch. This black comedy satirizes the world of fashion, the race for conventional beauty and eternal youth, was inspired by the director’s own novel, a continuation of his acclaimed book and film “ 99 francs"about the cynical advertising man Octave Parango (Jean Dujardin). According to the writer, his “Ideal” is not a film against Russia at all, but a satire on existing Western society stereotypes about our country.

Frederic Beigbeder: “The novel itself was written a decade ago. I love it very much, but I wanted to create something new, more positive based on it. I was thinking about what an ideal is. Today, the main factory of ideals is the beauty industry. It is she who forces women to hide their age, and glossy magazines- place photoshopped faces on your covers. I wanted to criticize this desire for perfection that big corporations profit from.”

In April 2018, it became known that the French writer would star in the Russian comedy “ Elephant"from the director of an airtight thriller" Collector"(2016) Alexey Krasovsky, this time decided to show the story children's writer Valentina Shubina. Alexey Guskov was approved for the role of the latter. And he, in turn, “pulled” Beigbeder into the picture, who got the part of the French philanthropist Vincent, who intended to persuade Shubin to create a new work.

Frederic Beigbeder about the “Elephant” project: “In the dialogues of my hero, the French businessman Vincent, what I like most is the scene of a conversation on the phone with his wife: “Darling, I have people now, but call me back in an hour, and we will definitely quarrel”... In general Well, this is revenge: Guskov worked in my film “Ideal”, playing a Russian oligarch there, and now he invited me to film in Russia so that I could try on the image of a tycoon who persuades his character to write a book. Seriously though, I like the story itself. I saw Krasovsky’s film “Collector” at the Honfleur festival. The picture made an impression on me, so I gladly agreed to act in it.”

Personal life of Frederic Beigbeder

On May 17, 1991, Frederic married Diane di Mac Mahon(Diane de Mac Mahon), one of the main personalities of French television. Their union broke up in the spring of 1996.

Frederic Beigbeder: “After my first marriage failed, I described my sorrows in the book “Love Lasts Three Years”, and also in “The Romantic Egoist.” Re-reading these books, I say to myself: “This guy is really very bad!” But I was not diagnosed or treated then, unless I treated myself...”

Three years after the divorce, in 1999, the writer had a daughter. Chloe Beigbeder(Chloé Beigbeder), whose mother was his then companion, actress and novelist Dolphin Valette(Delphine Valette). Beigbeder broke up with the latter when his daughter was just a baby. Long time he saw the child once every two weeks on weekends, but as his daughter grew older, their time together increased and they communicated more and more.

Frederic Beigbeder: “There is a feeling that Chloe raised me to the same extent that I raised her. The main thing is that I didn’t want to be the absent father that my dad was towards me.”

On June 17, 2003, the publicist married a businesswoman Amelia Labrande(Amélie Labrande), from whom he soon divorced. In 2004, he turned to a psychoanalyst, feeling that he had practically turned into the character of his “99 Francs”.

Frederic Beigbeder: “At the first session I appeared with the words: “I was advised to come, but I’m fine, I have nothing to do here.” Then he explained that I have no memories of childhood, until I was 13 years old. I talked about my erratic behavior, divorces, numerous jobs that I didn’t like... I love talking about myself so much that psychoanalysis seemed extremely interesting to me. But after two meetings I said: “Well, I told you everything, there’s no point in us seeing each other again.” The woman answered me: “On the contrary, we need to see each other twice as often.” Then: “Three times more often.” And so until the moment when seven years later she announced to me: “Well, now you no longer need to come to me.” I was even a little sad that everything was fine with me now...”

The prose writer was observed by a specialist for seven years. According to Frederick, psychoanalysis taught him an important thing - to say “no”, as a result of which he gained a lot of time for himself and for activities that really interest him.

On April 12, 2014, 48-year-old Begbeder walked the 23-year-old model and art historian down the aisle. Laru Michelle(Lara Micheli), whom he had been dating for three years by this time. Their wedding took place in the Bahamas. In the fall of 2015, the couple had a daughter. Una O'Neill(Oona O'Neill), named after Charlie Chaplin's wife and the playwright's daughter Eugene O'Neill. At the end of 2017, Frederic and Lara announced that they were preparing to become parents again.

Frederic Beigbeder: “I am a supporter of couples in which partners are from different generations. I tried to live with women of my generation - who had the same intractable problems as me - and we always quarreled. My current advice is: ladies, marry men 25 years younger than you, and vice versa. Living with an alien who has completely different ideas and guidelines is so exciting!.. Now something has changed, something is holding me back. I don't know what exactly. I explain this to myself by meeting a woman who managed to save me from all other women. These are not just words, but real physical experience and a great relief, because being a man is tiring: you are constantly aroused by sexual images, figures, glances, a stunning leg, a glimpse of a collarbone... Since Lara appeared, I have reserved the sensual joys of a voyeur for myself. But I don’t go further than that, which is very reassuring.”

Works by Frederic Beigbeder

Novels
1990 Memoirs of an unreasonable young man / Mémoire d’un jeune homme dérangé
1994 Vacations in a coma / Vacances dans le coma
1997 Love lives for three years / L’amour dure trois ans
2000 99 francs / 99 francs
2002 Windows on the world
2005 Romantic egoist / L'égoïste romantique
2007 Ideal / Au secours pardon
2010 French novel / Un roman français
2014 Oona & Salinger / Oona & Salinger
Stories
1999 Stories on Ecstasy / Nouvelles sous Ecstasy
Essay
2001 Best books XX century. Last inventory before sale / Dernier inventaire avant liquidation
2011 End of the world. First results / Premier bilan après l’Apocalypse
Interview
2004 I believe - I don’t either! Dialogue between the bishop and the wicked through the mediation of René Guitton. / Je crois Moi non plus: Dialogue entre un évêque et un mécréant
Comics
2002 Rester Normal
2004 Rester Normal à Saint-Tropez

Biography

Born on September 21, 1965 in Neuilly-sur-Seine near Paris. Mother Beigbedera Christine de Chatenier- translator of romance novels into French (in particular, works Barbara Cartland), And the father, Jean-Michel Beigbeder, is a professional recruiter. Brother Charles Beigbeder- founder of a brokerage house Selftrade and the first private power grid in France Poweo.

Such an unconventional family could not but affect the lifestyle of the Frederica. He loves provocations and self-criticism.

Begbeder received a diploma from the Paris Institute of Political Studies and then a DESS diploma in advertising and marketing from CELSA (Ecole Supérieure de l'Information et de la Communication).

As a result, he became a copywriter at a large advertising agency. Young and Rubicam. At the same time he collaborated as a literary critic in magazines Elle, Paris Match, Voici ou encore VSD. He was also a member of the team of literary critics on the radio show Jerome Garcin "Mask and Feather" at the station France Inter. He was fired from Young and Rubicam some time after the publication of the novel "99 francs"(later renamed "14.99 euros"), which is a satire and denunciation of the advertising business.

Meanwhile, he began hosting his own television show about literature "Books and Me" on the Paris Premiere channel. This was followed by an attempt to transmit l'Hypershow on Canal+, however, the channel’s managers soon closed the program.

Was a free consultant Robert Yu in the 2002 presidential elections, although he is not a member of the PCF.

In January 2003 the publishing group Flammarion suggested Begbeder editor's place. The first book chosen by Beigbeder was the novel Lola Lafon "Irresistible Excitement". This was the time of his participation in the anti-globalization movement and anarchist group Black Blocks.

Begbeder prefers extravagant stories with characters similar to himself.

In addition, he was the founder literary prize, which was awarded, in particular, to the books Michel Houellebecq and Virginie Depant, and even made his mark in cinema - he starred in a pornographic film "The Boatman's Daughter"(featuring genre star Estelle Desanges).

Deserved fame as one of the most interesting modern French writers Frederic Beigbeder brought novels “Memoirs of an Unreasonable Young Man” (1990), “Holiday in a Coma” (1995), “Love Lives for Three Years” (1997), “Stories on Ecstasy” (1999), “Romantic Egoist”, “99 Francs”, which became the leader of book sales in 2000 in France.

The strongest French contemporary. You can only put it next to Benaquista.

Works

Begbeder prefers extravagant stories with characters similar to himself.

In addition, he founded a literary prize, which was awarded, in particular, to the books of Michel Houellebecq and Virginie Depant, and even made his mark in cinema - he starred in cameo role in the pornographic film “The Boatman's Daughter” (with the participation of genre star Estelle Desanges).

Frederic Beigbeder's well-deserved fame as one of the most interesting modern French writers was brought to him by the novels “Memoirs of an Unreasonable Young Man” (), “Holidays in a Coma” (), “Love Lives for Three Years” (), “Stories on Ecstasy” (), “Romantic Egoist” ", "99 francs", which became the leader of book sales in 2000 in France.

Creation

Novels

• Memoirs of an unreasonable young man / Mémoire d'un jeune homme dérangé(, Russian translation ISBN 5-89091-224-0). The title parodies the title famous book Simone de Beauvoir Mémoires d'une jeune fille rangée(“Memoirs of a well-bred girl”).
• Holidays in a coma / Vacances dans le coma(, Russian translation ISBN 5-94145-097-4)
• Love lives for three years / L'amour dure trois ans(, Russian translation ISBN 5-94145-119-9)
• 99 francs / 99 francs(, Russian translation ISBN 5-94145-073-7)
• Windows to the world / Windows on the world(, Russian translation ISBN 5-94145-253-5)
• Romantic egoist / L'égoïste romantic(, Russian translation ISBN 5-94145-369-8)
• Ideal / Au secours pardon(, Russian translation ISBN 978-5-94145-485-3)
• French novel / Un roman français(, Russian translation ISBN 978-5-389-00779-6)
• Oona & Salinger (2014)

Stories

• Stories on ecstasy / Nouvelles sous Ecstasy(, Russian translation ISBN 5-89091-223-2)

Essay

• The best books of the 20th century. Last inventory before sale / Dernier inventaire avant liquidation(, Russian translation ISBN 5-98358-064-7)
• End of the world. First results / Premier bilan après l"Apocalypse(, Russian translation ISBN 978-5-389-04321-3)

Interview

• Dialogue between the bishop and the wicked through the mediation of René Guitton. / Je crois Moi non plus: Dialogue entre un évêque et un mécréant ()

Comics (Bandes dessinées)

• / Rester Normal ()
• / Rester Normal à Saint-Tropez ()

Filmography

Actor

• - Nice town / Beur sur la ville
• - 99 francs / 99 francs

Director

• - Love lives for three years
• 2016 - Ideal

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Links

• (French)
• (inaccessible link - story)
• in the library of Maxim Moshkov
• Subbotin D. // Skepsis, No. 3/4, 2005. - P.140-142.

Excerpt characterizing Beigbeder, Frederic

In the unfinished house on Varvarka, below which there was a drinking house, drunken screams and songs were heard. About ten factory workers were sitting on benches near tables in a small dirty room. All of them, drunk, sweaty, with dull eyes, straining and opening their mouths wide, they sang some kind of song. They sang separately, with difficulty, with effort, obviously not because they wanted to sing, but only to prove that they were drunk and partying. One of them, a tall, blond fellow in a clear blue scent, stood above them. His face with a thin, straight nose would be beautiful if it were not for his thin, pursed, constantly moving lips and dull, frowning, motionless eyes. He stood over those who were singing, and, apparently imagining something, solemnly and angularly waved his white hand rolled up to the elbow over their heads, the dirty fingers of which he unnaturally tried to spread out. The sleeve of his tunic was constantly falling down, and the fellow diligently rolled it up again with his left hand, as if there was something particularly important in the fact that this white, sinewy, waving arm was certainly bare. In the middle of the song, screams of fighting and blows were heard in the hallway and on the porch. The tall fellow waved his hand.
- Sabbath! – he shouted imperiously. - Fight, guys! - And he, without ceasing to roll up his sleeve, went out onto the porch.
The factory workers followed him. The factory workers, who were drinking in the tavern that morning under the leadership of a tall fellow, brought skins from the factory to the kisser, and for this they were given wine. The blacksmiths from the neighboring cousins, hearing the noise in the tavern and believing that the tavern was broken, wanted to force their way into it. A fight broke out on the porch.
The kisser was fighting with the blacksmith at the door, and while the factory workers were coming out, the blacksmith broke away from the kisser and fell face down on the pavement.
Another blacksmith was rushing through the door, leaning on the kisser with his chest.
The fellow with his sleeve rolled up hit the blacksmith in the face as he rushed through the door and shouted wildly:
- Guys! They're beating our people!
At this time, the first blacksmith rose from the ground and, scratching the blood on his broken face, shouted in a crying voice:
- Guard! Killed!.. Killed a man! Brothers!..
- Oh, fathers, they killed him to death, they killed a man! - the woman squealed as she came out of the neighboring gate. A crowd of people gathered around the bloody blacksmith.
“It’s not enough that you robbed people, took off their shirts,” said someone’s voice, turning to the kisser, “why did you kill a person?” Robber!
The tall fellow, standing on the porch, looked with dull eyes first at the kisser, then at the blacksmiths, as if wondering who he should fight with now.
- Murderer! – he suddenly shouted at the kisser. - Knit it, guys!
- Why, I tied up one such and such! - the kisser shouted, waving off the people who attacked him, and, tearing off his hat, he threw it on the ground. As if this action had some mysteriously threatening significance, the factory workers who surrounded the kisser stopped in indecision.
“Brother, I know the order very well.” I'll get to the private part. Do you think I won't make it? Nowadays no one is ordered to commit robbery! – the kisser shouted, raising his hat.
- And let's go, look! And let's go... look! - the kisser and the tall fellow repeated one after another, and both moved forward along the street together. The bloody blacksmith walked next to them. Factory workers and strangers followed them, talking and shouting.

We meet him in Paris on Saint-Germain-des-Prés, in a cafe from the 30s. A slightly graying beard and a slightly tired look complement the appearance of a neat dandy: he doesn’t like getting old, which is a pity, because he’s rather good at it. He is 51, third marriage, second child, Vacation home on the Atlantic coast of France... There is a temptation to talk about maturity, although this word still does not apply to it.

If you're hoping to write about a nightclub addict who goes to live on a beach in the Basque Country, you'll be disappointed. It’s easy to communicate with him: in front of me is a person with whom you can do without ceremony, who sincerely laughs and who always has several quotes wandering through his head. Eternal child, who received good upbringing, he listens carefully to questions and takes care to take his time answering each one. Even when the question concerns the image of a scoundrel that has stuck to him.

Frederick Beigbeder:

All these clichés about me date back to the publication of my novel 99 Francs, which was 15 years ago. But readers of my later works or viewers of my television programs have a different idea of ​​me as a character. 30 years ago I caused great irritation, this is the honest truth. I cultivated “aristocratic pleasure: not pleasing the public,” as the poet Charles Baudelaire called it.

And, I must admit, I succeeded in this! I don’t like exemplary characters, I prefer anti-heroes: Goethe’s Werther, Benjamin Constant’s Adolphe, Don Quixote... I write satire, but it is mistaken for an autobiography, and vice versa. Perhaps this causes misunderstandings.

I talked about myself for a long time, that I was an ugly, worthless idiot, in the hope that I would be refuted. But they took me literally

So, are you playing the scoundrel out of false modesty?

No, it's more like a cry for help. For a long time I talked about myself that I was an ugly, worthless idiot, in the hope that I would be refuted: “Oh no, come on, you’re handsome and smart, Frederick!” As they say, he was asking for compliments. This is such a slightly perverted way to look for love. Unfortunately for me, it didn't work: I was taken literally. Well, okay: I like provocations.

To separate yourself from your surroundings?

Yes, I definitely had a desire to shock the bourgeoisie and not confirm expectations. And this desire still does not leave me. Let's say here at Psychologies I would probably want to encourage the use of alcohol and stimulants, just in the spirit of controversy. It’s interesting, the contradictions, isn’t it? I'm rather shy by nature, so when I dare to do crazy things or see others do them, I feel a huge sense of liberation. To feel free: that's the only thing I strive for.

To the point of seeking freedom in excess?

This is probably childish, but so what? Yes, I am prone to excess. And yet I consider myself a person who has a healthy mind and a healthy body. And I find strange this current regression of a society in which holidays and pleasures are stigmatized with inimitable hypocrisy.

What if your 16-year-old daughter started snorting cocaine on the hood of a car?

I dare to hope that some of her father's ridiculous behavior will serve as a negative example for her! And yet, it seems to me that we urgently need to ask the question of what pleasure is for us today, in a society where magazines like yours tell us how to live, and the tabloid press becomes a tribunal where men who cheat on their wives are tried. All this is based on an ideological catechism worse than that of the priest at the school of my childhood.

When you distributed the “Manifesto of 343 Scoundrels” against prosecuting clients of prostitutes, was that also an outright provocation?

It was not my idea, but Catherine Millet's. I note with regret that feminists are divided into two camps: those who favor the protection of the rights of prostitutes (we understand each other), and puritanical feminists, influential in power, who believe that prostitution can be abolished without asking the opinions of prostitutes.

Happy people not only annoy me, but also tire me

Meanwhile, the problem is not corrupt love, but that many are unhappy sexually. Sometimes I am accused of machismo or misogyny, but how, tell me, can a father of two daughters not be a feminist?

Well, if this man also runs a men's magazine that features naked women on the cover, it's a moot point!

It seems ridiculous to me that in this day and age photographs famous women The cover may shock some people. You might think that the sexual revolution of the 60s and 70s was just brief episode. LUI Magazine is a tribute female beauty. Showing nude female body has always been a way for artists and sculptors to celebrate beauty, I didn’t come up with it.

And when you compare the current version of LUI to what it was like in the 70s, you can see how the magazine has settled down. Yes, I am for freedom and pleasure, and not for a paternalistic society that prohibits people from smoking, drinking, having sex; Soon foie gras will be banned too. I find this manner of making people feel guilty unacceptable. Is this happiness, tell me?

Did your excesses bring you happiness?

No not always. There comes a time when having fun and partying every night becomes as boring as sitting at home forever and not going anywhere. When I was in high school, the cartoonist Reisei had just released an album called “Disgusting Fat Man,” in which main character in loose underpants with balls sticking out, he declares: “Happy people piss me off!” Even though I'm rather happy with life now, I still agree with Racer: happy people They not only irritate me, but also tire me. I avoid boredom.

Boredom or depression?

I don't think I'm a depressive person, but rather a melancholic person with a tendency to cyclothymia. If I was depressed, I didn’t know it: after my first marriage failed, I wrote about my sorrows in Love Lasts Three Years, and also in The Romantic Egoist. As I re-read them, I say to myself: “This dude is really in a bad way!” But I was not diagnosed or treated then, unless I treated myself...

Addictions are very closely related to the fear of boredom and emptiness, right?

Yes. But, you know, I am very susceptible and will remain susceptible until the end of my days to this disease: fear of boredom. I think that a successful life is one in which one manages to avoid all social obligations. For several years now I have had a house in the Basque country, and there I organize for myself an existence in which there is the possibility of contemplation. For example, I have a hammock there in which I lie and chew pistachios.

Listen, here's a tip for your readers: when you eat pistachios, you can't do anything else except open them, put them in your mouth, chew them, take the next nut... It's very effective. An activity that is absolutely useless for the brain, but an excellent antidepressant. And every day (or almost) I watch sunset and twilight over the sea, and until I was forty years old it didn’t even occur to me.

Frederic Beigbeder and his eldest daughter Chloe

What changed you so much?

Mainly birth eldest daughter, meeting with Lara (Michelie, model and art history student - Ed.), now the birth of her youngest daughter...

What kind of father are you?

I broke up with my eldest daughter's mother when she was very young, so I can't talk about success here: for a long time I saw her once every two weeks on the weekends, and now she sees me every other week. I have a feeling that my daughter raised me to the same extent that I raised her. Most importantly, I wanted not to be the absent father that my father was towards me.

Have you undergone psychoanalysis?

Yes, with the woman who may have saved my life. I began my analysis in 2004, when I had almost become the character of 99 Francs. I came to the first session with the words: “I was advised to come, but I’m doing well and there’s nothing for me to do here.” Then I explained that I had no memories of childhood (until the age of 13), told about my erratic behavior, about divorces, about numerous jobs that I did not like.

I love talking about myself so much that psychoanalysis seemed extremely interesting to me

In short, after two meetings I told her: “Well, I told you everything, there’s no point in us seeing each other again.” She answered me: “On the contrary, we need to see each other twice as often.” Then: “Three times more often.” And so until the moment when seven years later she announced to me: “Well, now you no longer need to come to me.”

I'm a little sad that everything is fine with me now! (laughs) I love talking about myself so much that psychoanalysis seemed extremely interesting to me!

What did you take away from it?

He taught me one of the most important things in life: to say no. Previously, I could run all day long wherever I was invited, although it was not at all interesting to me. And the day I learned to say no, I found a lot of time for myself and for the things I really enjoy. This completely changed my life. I believed that you must always say “yes” to be loved. So here's my second piece of advice to your readers: refuse everything they offer you.

Frederic Beigbeder and his third wife, model Lara Micheli

In the novel on which you based the film Ideal (2016), you write: “In a time when beautiful woman became a trophy, some parties are like an exhibition of purebred dachshunds: the prize went to the one with the freshest bitch on his arm.” You have since married an amazing 25 year old woman. Is it all your spirit of contradiction?

Thank you for such words about her, but you again confuse the character of the novel and its author. Not to shy away from answering, I will quote Una O'Neill. She wrote about her marriage to Charlie Chaplin, who was three times her age: “He made me mature, and I let him stay young.” I am generally a supporter of couples in which partners are from different generations.

Ladies, marry men 25 years younger than you, and vice versa. Living with an alien is so exciting!

I tried to live with women of my generation - who had the same intractable problems as me - and we were always quarreling. My third piece of advice to your readers: ladies, marry men 25 years younger than you, and vice versa. Living with an alien who has completely different ideas and guidelines is so exciting!

You can't imagine it because you are a woman, but being a man is exhausting: you are constantly aroused by sexual images, figures, looks, a stunning leg, a glimpse of a collarbone... Since Lara appeared, I have reserved the sensual pleasures of a voyeur for myself, but then I'm not going for this. And it's very, very calming.

Sarcastic comedy “Ideal” by Frederic Beigbeder

“Let the scary ones die!” – the slogan of the novelist’s third film, based, of course, on his own book, should be understood as “Let everyone die, including me!” For Begbeder is an “ideal” in the sphere of modern misanthropy. And this kind of her implies a significant amount of self-abasement. Especially in the face of the greatness of Russian adventurism, which a scout of a French modeling agency is forced to face in the Russian expanses, where he arrived with the goal of getting a Russian girl with extraordinary parameters. 90-60-90 is a thing of the past. Nowadays “ideal face + virginity” is relevant. The second point makes the recruiter's mission almost impossible. But exciting.

Cast: Gaspard Proust, Alexey Guskov.