Scott Foundas wrote in '' Variety '' : " Mostly , the film turns on the curious chemistry between Houellebecq and his captors , who insist on engaging the writer in intellectual debate , despite their obvious disadvantages in this realm , querying him about Auschwitz , the Armenian genocide , his 1991 H.P. Lovecraft biography , and the ' rules ' governing Alexandrine poetry . " Foundas continued : " None of this would work nearly so well were Houellebecq not such a hoot playing himself — or at least a shambling , sad-sack version of himself , at once bolstering and gently skewering his self-perpetuated image of the author as misanthropic recluse . ( More than one critic in Berlin likened Houellebecq 's screen persona to that of a Gallic Larry David . ) In what is effectively a one-joke movie , the joke is a good one , and Nicloux ... manages to keep the comic energy high for almost the entire 90-minute running time . " John Waters included the film in his top 10 films of 2014
Armenian genocide
Armenian Genocide
The Kidnapping of Michel Houellebecq