French director Christophe Honoré hates hearing Aids-related movies being called ‘a trend’
The openly gay director has created a new play tackling the Aids crisis head-on
By Steve Brown
Words: Steve Brown
French writer/director Christophe Honoré hates hearing Aids-related movies and theatre being called “a trend”.
The openly gay director – who is best known for helming the French musical Les Chansons D’Amour – has created a new play, Les Idoles (The Idols), which tackles the Aids crisis head-on and brings artists back to life artists who died during the epidemic.
And although the Aids crisis is an issue he has worked on before with Robin Campillo on the 2017 drama 120 BPM, the director admits he hates hearing Aids-related films being classed as a “trend”.
In an interview with The Guardian, Honoré said: “It makes me mad when I hear it’s a trend.
“For years, it was as if nothing had happened to my generation. We kept the trauma to ourselves.”
And although Honoré has continued to bring LGBT+ issues into his work, he admitted he felt “hurt” following the uproar after his home country was considering legalising same-sex marriage because he didn’t believe “gay visibility might still be important.”
He continued: “I realised there was still a cloud of suspicion hanging over gay citizens.
“I felt hurt, but also responsible, because in my work I’d never thought that gay visibility might still be important. I felt like I’d failed, like I’d deserted the fight the generation before me had led.”