The comedy “The Libertine” was simultaneously staged at the Montparnasse Theater in Paris and the Schaubühne in Berlin (1997). In 1998, a feature film starring Fanny Ardant was released. "The Libertine" provides a comic, almost farcical solution to the theme of seduction. The plot was based on several historical anecdotes. The personality, artistic creativity, and philosophical experiments of Denis Diderot occupied Schmitt even while working on his dissertation. Even then, by his own admission, he decided to dedicate a play to the author of “The Paradox of the Actor.” I wanted to recreate his flesh, his madness, his liveliness, to show how free he was, how freely he changed his opinions, contradicted himself, started from scratch every time, thought all the time, was never sure of anything. “This is my most fun play. Written in spring, for spring, with a strong feeling of renewal, vitality,” the author testifies.