Didier Decoin
Didier Decoin (13 March 1945 – 5 August 2026) was a French screenwriter and writer awarded the Prix Goncourt in 1977.
Didier Decoin
Lionel Allorge · CC BY-SA 3.0
- Born
- 1945. · Boulogne-Billancourt.
- Died
- 2026. · Villejuif.
- Nationality
- France.
- Occupation
- screenwriter, writer, journalist, critic and film director.
- Education
- Institution Notre-Dame de Sainte-Croix.
- Known for
- John l'Enfer.
- Honours
- Prix Goncourt, prix des Libraires, Prix Max-Barthou, Officer of the Order of Maritime Merit, Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres and Officer of the National Order of Merit.
- Languages
- French.
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Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q1210538 · wikipedia · Didier Decoin
In this article
Life and career
Life and career
Didier Decoin studied at Institution Notre-Dame de Sainte-Croix. The recorded working language is French. Positions recorded include president of the Société des gens de lettres and president. Works named in the authority record are John l'Enfer. Distinctions recorded are Prix Goncourt, prix des Libraires, Prix Max-Barthou and Officer of the Order of Maritime Merit.
Didier Decoin was the son of filmmaker Henri Decoin. He began his career as a newspaper journalist at France-Soir, Le Figaro and VOD, and radio Europe 1. At the same time he started writing. While continuing his writing, he became writer in film and television (and adapted scripts for television as the major films Les Misérables, The Count of Monte Cristo, Balzac and Napoleon). In 1995, he became the Secretary of the Académie Goncourt. Decoin died on 5 August 2026, at the age of 81.
Essays
Essays
• Il fait Dieu (Julliard 1975, Fayard 1997) • La Nuit de l'été (with film by J.C. Brialy, Balland 1979) • La Bible racontée aux enfants (Calmann-Levy) • Il était une joie... Andersen (Ramsay, 1982) • Béatrice en enfer (Lieu Commun, 1984) • L'Enfant de Nazareth (with Marie-Hélène About, Nouvelle Cité, 1989) • Elisabeth Catez ou l'Obsession de Dieu (Balland, 1991), Prix de littérature religieuse 1992 • Lewis et Alice (Laffont, 1992) • Jésus, le Dieu qui riait (Stock, 1999) • "Dictionnaire amoureux de la Bible"
Collaborative works
Collaborative works
• La Hague, with Natacha Hochman (photography) (Isoète, 1991) • Cherbourg, with Natacha Hochman (photography) (Isoète, 1992) • Presqu'île de lumière, with Patrick Courault (photography) (Isoète, 1996) • Sentinelles de lumière, with Jean-Marc Coudour (photography) (Desclée de Brouwer, 1997)
Screenplays
Screenplays
• La Merveilleuse Visite (dir. Marcel Carné, 1973) • La Bible (dir. Marcel Carné, 1976) • I as in Icarus (dir. Henri Verneuil, 1979) • L'Indic (dir. Serge Leroy, 1983) • De guerre lasse (dir. Robert Enrico, 1987) • Un bon petit diable (dir. Jean-Claude Brialy) • The Veiled Man (dir. Maroun Bagdadi, 1987) • Dancing Machine (dir. Gilles Béhat, 1990) • Out of Life (dir. Maroun Bagdadi, 1991) • Mouche (dir. Marcel Carné, 1992, incomplete film) • Des feux mal éteints (dir. Serge Moati, 1994) • Jakob the Liar (dir. Peter Kassovitz, 1999) • The Count of Monte Cristo (dir. Josée Dayan, 1999, TV miniseries) • Balzac (TV miniseries) (dir. Josée Dayan, 1999, TV miniseries) • The King Is Dancing (dir. Gérard Corbiau (2000) • Les Misérables (dir. Josée Dayan, 2000, TV miniseries)
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 1 entries
2026
Didier Decoin died at Villejuif.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Boulogne-Billancourt.
Birth place
Villejuif.
Death place
Bibliography ===== Novels =
• Le Procès à l'Amour (Seuil, 1966) (Bourse Del Duca). See • La Mise au monde (Seuil, 1967) • Laurence (Seuil, 1969) • Elisabeth ou Dieu seul le sait (Seuil, 1970) (prix des Quatre Jurys) • Abraham de Brooklyn (Seuil, 1971) (prix des Libraires) • Ceux qui vont s'aimer (Seuil, 1973) • Un policeman (Seuil, 1975) • John l'Enfer (Seuil, 1977) (Prix Goncourt) • Le bureau des jardins et des étangs (Stock, 2017) • La Dernière Nuit (Balland, 1978) • L'Enfant de la mer de Chine (Seuil, 1981) • Les Trois vies de Babe Ozouf (Seuil, 1983) • Autopsie d'une étoile (Seuil, 1987) • Meurtre à l'anglaise (Mercure de France, 1988) • La Femme de chambre du Titanic (Seuil, 1991) - basis for the 1997 film The Chambermaid on the Titanic • Docile (Seuil, 1994) • La Promeneuse d'oiseaux (Seuil, 1996) • La Route de l'aéroport (Fayard, 1997) • Louise (Seuil, 1998) • Madame Seyerling (Seuil, 2002) • Avec vue sur la Mer (Nil Editions, 2005), Prix du Cotentin 2005, Prix Livre & Mer Henri-Queffélec 2006 • Henri ou Henry: le roman de mon père (Stock, May 2006) • Est-ce ainsi que les femmes meurent (Grasset, February 2009)
References ==== External links
References ==== External links
• "Didier Decoin", Academie Goncourt * • Didier Decoin
Text attribution
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Didier Decoin, revision 1368514735 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
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References
Citations
References
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Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
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