HPG Production
Hervé-Pierre Gustave: director, actor, producer. One of the pioneers and main authors of gonzo in France.
Who HPG is
From the street to cinema, by way of adult filmHPG is the working name of Hervé-Pierre Gustave, born on 8 June 1966. Before he started filming he earned a living as a stripper in Saint-Denis. His first film, Une Brésilienne au Trocadéro, came out in 1990. From 1995 he became one of the most visible figures in French adult film, both in front of and behind the camera.
His adult filmography runs to around 600 films in about twenty years. He was nominated several times for the Hot d’Or, the European award for the industry, without ever winning it. What sets him apart has less to do with prizes than with method: he produces himself, shoots himself, and puts his name on what he makes.
Alongside that he built a career in cinema. He acted for Catherine Breillat in Romance, for Virginie Despentes and Coralie Trinh Thi in Baise-moi, and for Bertrand Bonello in Le Pornographe opposite Jean-Pierre Léaud. He then directed his own features: On ne devrait pas exister, Les Mouvements du bassin and Fils de, which screened at Locarno.
In 2002 he published Autobiographie d’un hardeur with Hachette. The two sides, adult film and cinema, feed each other: the same frankness, the same refusal of packaging, the same wish to film people rather than situations.
Career
The dates that matter- 1966 BornHervé-Pierre Gustave is born on 8 June 1966 in France.
- 1988 Before adult filmHe works as a stripper in the Saint-Denis district.
- 1990 First filmHe shoots Une Brésilienne au Trocadéro and enters the adult film business.
- 1995 BreakthroughFrom 1995 he establishes himself as actor and director and lays the groundwork for French gonzo. That same year he takes part in the collective film 3000 scénarios contre un virus, in Cédric Klapisch’s segment.
- 1999 Cinema and documentaryHe appears in Catherine Breillat’s Romance and directs the documentary HPG, son vit, son œuvre.
- 2000 Baise-moiHe appears in Baise-moi by Virginie Despentes and Coralie Trinh Thi, a film that reopened the censorship debate in France.
- 2001 Le PornographeA role in Bertrand Bonello’s Le Pornographe, alongside Jean-Pierre Léaud.
- 2002 AutobiographyHe publishes Autobiographie d’un hardeur with Hachette.
- 2006 On ne devrait pas existerHis first feature as a director outside adult film, largely autobiographical.
- 2012 Les Mouvements du bassinA second feature, somewhere between fiction and self portrait.
- 2014 Fils deA feature presented at the Locarno festival, about fatherhood and the adult industry.
Outside adult film
Features and documentary- 19953000 scénarios contre un virusactor, segment by Cédric Klapisch
- 1999Romanceactor, directed by Catherine Breillat
- 1999HPG, son vit, son œuvredirector, documentary
- 2000Baise-moiactor, Despentes and Trinh Thi
- 2001Le Pornographeactor, directed by Bertrand Bonello
- 2006On ne devrait pas existerdirector and actor
- 2012Les Mouvements du bassindirector and actor
- 2014Fils dedirector, Locarno festival
Gonzo, and where HPG fits
Gonzo is shot handheld, often by the performer himself, with no script and no built set. No polished lighting, no storyboard: what counts is what actually happens between the performers.
HPG pushed that approach in France and turned it into a signature. You recognise his films by their tone, their pace and the room he leaves for the performers, who talk, hesitate and laugh on camera.
Where Marc Dorcel, Colmax and Alpha France built the classic French industry with large productions and well known casts, HPG represents its rougher and more personal side. The name stays tied to the man and his work rather than to a large commercial label.
That catalogue is what you find on ViveLaXXX: French performers, French dialogue and scenes shot the way he has always shot them.
Sources: Wikipédia, hpgnet.com, X.
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