To preserve his “independence”, the director Joël Pommerat declines the Legion of Honor

The 61-year-old artist, known for pieces like Cinderella or The Reunification of the Two Koreasrefuses to be rewarded by the State.

The director Joël Pommerat announced this Monday, January 20, that he would refuse the Legion of Honor, “an individual award from the State” which he considers incompatible with the independence of an artist.

“I was surprised to learn that I had been promoted to the rank of Knight of the Legion of Honor. I am sincerely touched that someone thought of me and I am sorry to have to decline,” he said in a statement. transmitted to AFP.

“I believe in the need for perspective for those whose job it is to write about today’s society and world. This form of honor is symbolically posed as an individual reward from the State and is not not compatible, in my opinion, with this search for independence”.

Recognized figure

Joël Pommerat was elevated to the rank of knight of the Legion of Honor in the contingent of the Minister of Culture Rachida Dati, according to a decree of January 15, 2025.

An ardent defender of public theater, Pommerat is, at 61 years old, a figure recognized by critics and the public alike, whose plays like Cinderella or The Reunification of the Two Koreas toured for several years around the world. His piece Mariusaccording to Marcel Pagnol, developed during workshops in detention, is currently on tour in France.

In mid-January, he was elevated to the rank of Knight of the Legion of Honor alongside other personalities from the world of culture such as actresses Camille Cottin and Mélanie Thierry, the impersonator and comedian Laurent Gerra, and the predecessor of Rachida Dati, Rima Abdul-Malak.

Last Monday, cartoonist and director Marjane Satrapi announced that she was refusing the title of knight of the Legion of Honor, to which she had been elevated in July 2024. The author of Persepolis thus wanted to denounce “a hypocritical attitude of France towards Iran”, particularly in the allocation of visas.

Many artists and scientists have refused to be decorated or have declined the Legion of Honor on principle, from Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir to Marie Curie, including Louis Aragon, Albert Camus and Claude Monet.