In 2011, while in the middle of a promotional book tour, French author and provocateur Michel Houellebecq disappeared. Some thought he was holed up drunk somewhere; others speculated that he had been taken hostage by Al-Qaeda. Houellebecq himself, who reappeared after a few days, has never offered any explanation of any kind... until now.
In this farcical bit of cinematic speculation that manages to recall the work of both O. Henry and Charlie Kaufman, Houellebecq plays himself for writer/director Guillaume Nicloux, who posits that Houllebecq fell into the hands of three amateur kidnappers. Somewhere deep in the Parisian suburbs, Stockholm syndrome gets twisted up in knots as the intellectual diva and his muscle-bound captors find common ground in this wryly funny tale of ransom, writing and cigarettes.