Filmed shortly before the author's death in 1985, this classic program contains a rare and extended interview with the man whose plays revolutionised post-war theatre and whose novels and film, Chantes d'Amour, describe with startling directness and lyricism the world of pimps, prostitutes, thieves, down-and-outs, and, above all, homosexual love.
Genet's first novel, Our Lady of the Flowers, written in prison, moved Jean-Paul Sartre to declare him a saint and martyr.
At 75, Genet remained a self-declared outcast, unrepentant about his past as a thief and prostitute, still questioning society's expectations. He'd spent the last ten years of his life closely engaged with the Black Panthers in America and with the Palestinians.
In an impassioned outburst, he denounced even the interview itself as 'a piece of bad theatre' and turned the tables on his interrogators.
Directed by Nigel Williams and Charles Chabot, originally filmed for BBC's Arena arts program in 1985.
