"I worship 'Bring in the Accused'": Actor Raphaël Quenard publishes a book about a serial killer

From film sets to bookstore shelves. Raphaël Quenard, the new darling of French cinema, unveiled his very first novel, Clamser à Tataouine (Flammarion), on Tuesday, May 14. This gritty tale follows a young outcast who, after a failed suicide attempt, decides to take revenge on society by becoming a serial killer.

A theme that comes from a "fascination for true crimes," the English term for documentaries about criminal cases, as he explains to BFMTV. As well as "all the series, Dexter , You , The End of the F***ing World ..."

"Obviously, I worship the show 'Faites entrer l'accusé', which I watched with great enthusiasm, to the point of being scared to death and having to go and join my brother in his bed at night to get to sleep," he jokes.

The release of this first novel, first announced under the pseudonym Pierrot Tchitch, is shrouded in a whiff of sulfur. Because his character only attacks women: "We glimpse a dubious plunge into a carnage of the feminine," denounces journalist Sabrina Champenois in a post for Libération , entitled "Why I won't read Raphaël Quenard's book about a serial killer."

"I'm telling a story, I'm not advocating for this detestable and immoral person," the author told France Inter . "Morality has no place in art."

The reception of this first book has been mixed. While Marianne describes it as a "hilarious" book, "far from detestable" although "sometimes overwritten," the Huffington Post describes it as an "unconvincing" debut novel, recalling that 55 femicides have taken place in France since the beginning of the year and headlined it: "You can do without it."

His debut as an author was less unanimously acclaimed, therefore, than his acting career. Because the actor, still virtually unknown two years ago, established himself as one of the new sure values ​​of French cinema with Yannick , by Quentin Dupieux , and Chien de la casse by Jean-Baptiste Durand. The latter film allowed him to win a César for Best Actor, while the former earned him a nomination in the Best Actor category. In 2024, he was thus nominated in three categories at the César Awards, as Best Actor for Yannick , Best Actor for Chien de la casse and Best Documentary Short Film for L'Acteur , which he co-directed.

Since then, Quentin Dupieux has had him back in The Second Act , opposite Léa Seydoux , Vincent Lindon and Louis Garrel , and he starred opposite Adèle Exarchopoulos and François Civil in L'Amour ouf , by Gilles Lellouche. In addition, Raphaël Quenard climbed the steps of Cannes on Saturday May 17 to present I Love Peru , his first film as (co)director, a mockumentary about an actor struggling with sudden success. The feature film will be released in theaters on July 9.

Finally, a major project awaits him: he will play Johnny Hallyday in a biopic starring Laeticia Hallyday and directed by Cédric Jimenez , expected for 2027.