Frédéric Mitterrand
Encyclopedia
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
-Tunisian
Tunisia
Tunisia , officially the Tunisian RepublicThe long name of Tunisia in other languages used in the country is: , is the northernmost country in Africa. It is a Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area...
citizen, is the French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
Minister of Culture and Communication. Throughout his career, he has been an actor, screenwriter, television presenter, writer, producer and director.
Biography
Born in Paris, he is the nephew of François MitterrandFrançois Mitterrand
François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand was the 21st President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra, serving from 1981 until 1995. He is the longest-serving President of France and, as leader of the Socialist Party, the only figure from the left so far elected President...
, who was the President of France from 1981 to 1995, and the son of engineer Robert Mitterrand (1915–2002) and Edith Cahier, the niece of Eugène Deloncle
Eugène Deloncle
Eugène Deloncle was a French engineer and Fascist leader, and the adoptive father of Jacques Corrèze....
, the co-founder of "La Cagoule
La Cagoule
La Cagoule , officially called Comité secret d'action révolutionnaire , was a violent French fascist-leaning and anti-communist group, active in the 1930s, and designed to attempt the overthrow of the French Third Republic...
".
He went to the Lycée Janson de Sailly
Lycée Janson de Sailly
Lycée Janson de Sailly is a lycée located in the XVIe arrondissement of Paris, France. It is generally considered as one of the most prestigious lycées in Paris...
in Paris and studied history and geography at the Paris West University Nanterre La Défense, and political science at Sciences Po. He taught economics, history and geography at EABJM from 1968 to 1971. In 1978, he was a film critic at J'informe. From 1971 to 1986, he ran several art film
Art film
An art film is the result of filmmaking which is typically a serious, independent film aimed at a niche market rather than a mass market audience...
cinemas in Paris (Olympic Palace, Entrepôt and Olympic-Entrepôt). He also had roles in a number of films, and was in the 1980s active as a producer and director in TV productions.
In June 2008, Mitterrand was appointed as the director of the French Academy in Rome
French Academy in Rome
The French Academy in Rome is an Academy located in the Villa Medici, within the Villa Borghese, on the Pincio in Rome, Italy.-History:...
by President Nicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Sarkozy is the 23rd and current President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra. He assumed the office on 16 May 2007 after defeating the Socialist Party candidate Ségolène Royal 10 days earlier....
.
A year later, on 23 June 2009, Mitterrand was appointed to the French government as the Minister of Culture and Communications
Minister of Culture (France)
The Minister of Culture is, in the Government of France, the cabinet member in charge of national museums and monuments; promoting and protecting the arts in France and abroad; and managing the national archives and regional "maisons de culture"...
.
Mitterrand, who is openly bisexual, writes a monthly column for Têtu
Têtu
Têtu is a gay magazine published in France. It is subtitled in French le magazine des gays et lesbiennes .-History:...
.
Mitterrand's autobiographical novel The Bad Life
Mitterrand's autobiographical novel The Bad LifeThe Bad Life
The Bad Life is a 2005 French novel by Frédéric Mitterrand, the Minister of Culture and Communication of France. The novel is partly autobiographical but fictionalized to a certain extent...
was a best seller in 2005. In the book he details his "delight" whilst visiting the male brothels of Bangkok
Bangkok
Bangkok is the capital and largest urban area city in Thailand. It is known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon or simply Krung Thep , meaning "city of angels." The full name of Bangkok is Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom...
, and writes, "I got into the habit of paying for boys ... The profusion of young, very attractive and immediately available boys put me in a state of desire I no longer needed to restrain or hide." At the time of its release Mitterrand was applauded for his honesty, but he has had to defend his writings after he publicly defended Roman Polanski when Polanski was detained in Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
on an American request for extradition
Extradition
Extradition is the official process whereby one nation or state surrenders a suspected or convicted criminal to another nation or state. Between nation states, extradition is regulated by treaties...
for having sex with a thirteen year old girl.
On October 5, 2009 Marine Le Pen
Marine Le Pen
Marine Le Pen is a French politician, a lawyer by profession and the president of the Front National since 16 January 2011...
of the French National Front Party quoted sections of the book on French television, accusing him of having sex with underage boys and engaging in "sex tourism
Sex tourism
Sex tourism is travel to engage in sexual activity with prostitutes.The World Tourism Organization, a specialized agency of the United Nations, defines sex tourism as "trips organized from within the tourism sector, or from outside this sector but using its structures and networks, with the primary...
", demanding that Mitterrand resign his position as culture minister. Amongst others he was also criticised by the Socialist Party
Socialist Party (France)
The Socialist Party is a social-democratic political party in France and the largest party of the French centre-left. It is one of the two major contemporary political parties in France, along with the center-right Union for a Popular Movement...
spokesman Benoît Hamon
Benoît Hamon
Benoît Hamon is a French politician, member of the Socialist Party , part of the Party of European Socialists. He was Member of the European Parliament for the East of France from 2004 to 2009. He was national secretary for Europe in the French socialist party. At present, he is spokesman...
, who stated: “As a minister of culture he has drawn attention to himself by defending a film maker and he has written a book where he said he took advantage of sexual tourism. To say the least, I find it shocking.” On the other hand, some conservatives
Conservatism
Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...
supported Mitterrand, and a close aide to Nicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Sarkozy is the 23rd and current President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra. He assumed the office on 16 May 2007 after defeating the Socialist Party candidate Ségolène Royal 10 days earlier....
said the French President backed his Culture Minister, describing the controversy around him as "pathetic." Mitterrand also insists the book isn't an autobiography, the publisher describes it as a "novel inspired by autobiography" and the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
refers to it as "autobiographical novel". In his own defence Mitterrand stated, "Each time I was with people who were my age, or who were five years younger – there wasn't the slightest ambiguity – and who were consenting," and that he uses the term "boys" loosely, both in his life and in the book. He also declared, "I condemn sexual tourism, which is a disgrace. I condemn paedophilia, which I have never in any way participated in."
Filmography
as an actor:- 1960 : Fortunat
- 1981 : Lettres d'amour en Somalie
- 1984 : Paris vu par… vingt ans plus tard
- 1995 : Madama ButterflyMadama ButterflyMadama Butterfly is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. Puccini based his opera in part on the short story "Madame Butterfly" by John Luther Long, which was dramatized by David Belasco...
, adaption of the Puccini opera - 1997 : Mon copain Rachid, by Philippe Barassat
- 2001 : Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain by Jean-Pierre JeunetJean-Pierre Jeunet-Life and career:Jean-Pierre Jeunet was born in Roanne, Loire, France. He bought his first camera at the age of 17 and made short films while studying animation at Cinémation Studios. He befriended Marc Caro, a designer and comic book artist who became his longtime collaborator and...
as a producer:
- Les Aigles foudroyés, documentary
- Mémoires d'exil, documentary
- Fairouz, documentary, 1998
- Je suis la Folle de Brejnev, 2001
Publications
- Tous désirs confondus, Actes Sud, 1988, new ed. 2009
- Mémoires d'exil, Robert Laffont, 1990, ISBN 978-2-2210-9023-7
- Destins d'étoiles - tomes 1, 2, 3, 4 - Fixot, 1991–1992
- Monte Carlo : la légende, Assouline, 1993
- Une saison tunisienne, sous la direction de Frédéric Mitterrand et Soraya Elyes-Ferchichi, Actes Sud, 1995
- L'Ange bleu : un film de Joseph von Sternberg, Plume, 1995
- Madame Butterfly, Plume, 1995
- Les Aigles foudroyés - la fin des Romanov des Habsbourg et des Hohenzollern, Pocket, 1998
- Un jour dans le siècle, Robert Laffont, 2000
- La Mauvaise Vie, Robert Laffont, 2005
- Lettres d'amour en Somalie, Pocket, septembre 2006
- Maroc, 1900-1960 Un certain regard, avec Abdellah TaïaAbdellah TaïaAbdellah Taïa is an openly gay Moroccan writer who has lived in self-imposed exile in Paris since 1998. Taïa writes in French and has had works translated into Basque, Dutch, English and Spanish....
, Actes Sud, 2007 - Le Festival de Cannes, Robert Laffont, 2007
External links
- (In French) A passage from Mitterrand's autobiography, "La Mauvaise Vie" (Edition Robert Laffont, 360 p., 2005), pages 293 à 307. publisher LeMonde.Fr