Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt (born 28 March 1960) is a Franco–Belgian playwright, short story writer and novelist, as well as a film director. His plays have been staged in over fifty countries all over the world. Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt's parents were teachers of physical education and sport, and his father later became a physiotherapist and masseur in paediatric hospitals. He was also a French boxing champion while his mother was a medal-winning runner. His grandfather was an artisan jeweller. The "Classiques & Contemporains" edition of La Nuit de Valognes (Don Juan on Trial) claims that Schmitt depicts himself as a rebellious teenager who detested received wisdom and was sometimes prone to violent outbursts. According to Schmitt, however, it was philosophy that saved him and taught him to be himself and to feel that he was free. One day, his mother took him to the Théâtre des Célestins to see a performance of Edmond Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac starring Jean Marais. Her son was moved to tears and the seeds of his passion for the theatre were sown. After the show, he told his mother that he wanted to "be like the man on the poster"; his mother thought he meant the actor, Jean Marais, but he replied: "No!" and read out the name on the poster "Edmond Rostand". He then began to write. Later, he would say: "At sixteen, I realised (or decided) that I was a writer, and I wrote, produced and acted in my first plays at high school." To improve his style, he threw himself with frenzied zeal into exercises of pastiche and re-writing, especially Molière. After preparatory classes at the Lycée du Parc for France's elite universities, Schmitt passed the entrance exam to the École normale supérieure. He was a student there between 1980 and 1985, leaving with the top French teaching qualification in philosophy (agrégé de philosophie). In 1987, he was awarded the degree of PhD for his thesis "Diderot and Metaphysics" at the Paris-Sorbonne University, which was published in 1997 with the title "Diderot or the Philosophy of Seduction". He has lived in Brussels since 2002 and obtained Belgian citizenship in 2008. Schmitt spent his military service teaching at the Saint-Cyr Military Academy, afterwards spending two years as a student teaching assistant at the University of Besançon. He went on to teach at the high school in Cherbourg before being appointed lecturer at the University of Chambéry, where he taught for four years. On the night of 4 February 1989, he became separated from his companions during an expedition to the Ahaggar Desert and, in the vast expanses of the Sahara, he underwent a spiritual experience that was nothing short of a divine revelation. In that instant, he says that his mind was filled with the words "Everything is justified". Schmitt believes that it was that extraordinary experience that enabled him to break into writing. He describes it in his novel Night of Fire (La Nuit de Feu), published in September 2015. ... Source: Article "Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
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Biography from TMDB.
- March 28, 1960 (66)
- Lyon, Rhône, France
- Writer, also director
- 3 on MovieCove · 27 credits in all
What are Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt's films like?
Across a limited sample of 3 MovieCove titles with a thematic analysis, their films lean Bonds and Self.
Themes
What they feel like to watch
Ironic 0 · Wry 0 · Earnest 3
A split, not a type: Light 2 · Serious 0 · Dark 1
A split, not a type: Grounded 2 · Stylized 0 · Heightened 1
Gentle 1 · Charged 2 · Intense 0
Steady 3 · Shifting 0 · Whiplash 0
Straight-faced 0 · Some laughs 3 · Funny 0
Slow burn 2 · Even-paced 1 · Relentless 0
Casual 3 · Engaged 0 · Full focus 0
Easy watch 1 · Affecting 1 · Heavy 1
Resolved 3 · Open-ended 0 · Ambiguous 0
Moods and endings
AI-generated from each title's plot synopsis and cast list, with extra plot summaries, reviews and Parents Guide notes for titles the model may not know, and the model's own knowledge of the ones it recognizes. Only analyzed titles count, so this covers part of the filmography; the feel axes count films only for now.
Where can I watch Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt's films?
As of October 24, 2026, 1 of their 3 MovieCove titles stream on a subscription or free service.
Subscription and free streaming for Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt's titles on MovieCove; rent and buy are not counted. Titles are listed by Midcredits score, highest first, at most 12 per service; a dashed chip is a producer credit or a minor one, such as a thanks. A service opens the browse page, which counts movies only, so its number can differ.
Filmography
27 credits, 3 with a MovieCove page; 11 appearances as themselves are hidden until asked for.
Bungalow 21 (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2024)
Kleine Eheverbrechen (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2023)
Le Figaro La Nuit (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2022)
Un monde, un regard (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2021)
Monsieur Ibrahim and the Flowers of the Koran (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2020)
Piccoli crimini coniugali (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2017)
Hibernatus (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2015)
La Dernière Campagne (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2013)
Midcredits score: 77th percentile of all films
Oscar et la dame Rose (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2007)
Odette Toulemonde(2006)
Midcredits score: 55th percentile of all films
Oscar and the Lady in Pink (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2007)
L’Évangile selon Pilate (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2005)
Volpone (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2004)
Milady (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2004)
Monsieur Ibrahim(2003)
Midcredits score: 88th percentile of all films
Aurélien (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2003)
Aurélien (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2003)
Sarah (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2003)
Dangerous Liaisons (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2003)
Hôtel des deux mondes (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2002)
The Libertine (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2000)
Dedication to Eve (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1999)
Heavy Weather (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1996)
Jamaica Inn (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1995)
Le droit à l'oubli (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1994)
Madame Pylinska et le secret de Chopin (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)
Career shape
A full career of 27 titles, 26 of them dated from 1994 to 2024.
How do Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt's films land?
Their typical MovieCove film has a Midcredits score in the 77th percentile, the median of all 3; across a limited sample of 3 films with reception data, the typical film sits in the 71st percentile for acclaim.
- 75th and up2
- 50th to 74th1
Shape of the crowd
None of their 3 titles divides audiences: 2 are Crowd Pleasers.
- Universally Loved1
- Crowd Pleaser2
Reviewers score the plot and story 52/100 in their films, across 3 reviewed titles; fans 62, detractors 27. The element that speaks to their work as a writer.
Percentiles are each film's standing among all films on MovieCove; the typical film is the median, so one outlier cannot drag it. Percentiles and reviewer scores count the films IMDb credits them on, for now; the Midcredits score bands, the shape of the crowd and the two cards count their MovieCove titles, shows included (a show ranked among shows), appearances as themselves left out. A descriptor is the shape of a title's IMDb rating distribution against the catalog; "most divisive" needs a spread wider than half of all titles, and a card names only a principal credit: a craft role, and on a show a crew role or a run of episodes, never a courtesy credit or a one-off guest spot.
Who does Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt work with?
People who share at least 2 of Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt's MovieCove titles; Philippe Bourgueil shares the most, 2.
- Philippe BourgueilShared titles: Oscar and the Lady in Pink (2009), Odette Toulemonde (2006)See all 2 shared titles with Philippe Bourgueil
- Olivier RausinShared titles: Oscar and the Lady in Pink (2009), Odette Toulemonde (2006)See all 2 shared titles with Olivier Rausin