The Healing Effects of Self-Praise

Renowned writer Abel Znorko, a Nobel Prize laureate in literature, lives in voluntary isolation - far from people, in his luxurious cabin deep in the forest. His reason is love: he wants to escape from it, to deny its power. He savors his solitude, yet drowns in it at the same time.

One day, Nicolas Gobert arrives - a journalist from a minor regional newspaper. He travels from France to speak with the arrogant author about his latest novel, Denied Love - a book composed of intimate love letters addressed to a mysterious woman with the initials H. M. What seems like an ordinary interview gradually transforms into a psychological duel between two men with completely different views on life, relationships, sexuality, and the nature of love. Yet they share one unspoken secret: one knows about it, the other has no idea.

Znorko treats his guest with contempt and behaves chaotically, almost confusedly. But Gobert pursues his goal like a bulldog - and with each new question, it becomes clearer that he did not come for a journalistic interview. Truths surface that shatter the carefully constructed identity of both men into fragments of half-truths, self-deceptions, and assumptions. Both ultimately arrive at realizations that lead them to the very threshold of thoughts about being and non-being.