Director Joël Pommerat refuses the Legion of Honor

An ardent defender of public theater, Joël Pommerat is, at 61, a French director recognized by critics and the public alike.

The director Joël Pommerat announced on Monday January 20 that he was refusing the Legion of Honor, “an individual state award” 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”declared Joël Pommerat in a press release sent to AFP. He adds: “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.”

An ardent defender of public theater, Joël Pommerat is, at 61, 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 Pagnol, developed during workshops in detention, is currently on tour in France.

According to a decree of January 15, 2025, Joël Pommerat is elevated to the rank of knight of the Legion of Honor in the contingent of the Minister of Culture Rachida Dati, alongside other personalities from the world of culture such as actresses Camille Cottin and Mélanie Thierry, the imitator and comedian Laurent Gerra or even Ms. Dati’s predecessor, 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 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.