Joël Pommerat in turn refuses the Legion of Honor, out of a spirit of “independence”

After Marjane Satrapi, it was the 61-year-old director, defender of public theater, who declined the distinction, justifying his choice by a “need for perspective” for those “whose job is to write about society ”.

Lhe director Joël Pommerat announced on Monday 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 I was thought of and I am sorry to have to decline”he declared in a press release sent 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 compatible, in my opinion, with this search for independence..

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, the cartoonist and director Marjane Satrapi also refused 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.

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.