Jacques Audiard was born in Paris in 1952, the son of the prolific screenwriter and director Michel Audiard. He began writing films in the mid-1970s and made his directorial debut in 1994 with See How They Fall. He won Baftas for The Beat That My Heart Skipped (2005) and A Prophet (2010) and the Cannes Palme d’Or with Dheepan in 2015. Audiard’s latest film, Emilia Pérez, a trans-empowerment musical set among Mexican drug cartels, won the Jury prize at Cannes and was described by Variety as “dazzling and instantly divisive”. It’s in cinemas now and will stream globally on Netflix from 13 November. Audiard lives in Paris.
1. Book
Bruno et Jean by Pauline Valade
In 1750, Bruno Lenoir and Jean Diot were strangled and burned to death in Place de Grève, Paris – the last people to be sentenced to death for homosexuality in France. Delving into the legal documents that led to the execution allows Pauline Valade to reconstruct Paris in the 1750s and its secret homosexual milieu. I’m a big fan of historical literature and I was impressed by Valade’s archival research. The novel gives life and substance to these two men whose tragic story reflects both the judicial errors of a complex society and the timeless fight for tolerance.
2. Music
When I’m working I have Apple Music on my computer set on random, and whenever I hear tracks that I like, I go over and look at the names: quite often they’re by [the Chilean-American composer and musician] Nicolas Jaar. He puts out music under his own name and also in a band called Darkside; one of my favourite tracks of theirs is The Only Shrine I’ve Seen. Jaar also made an alternative soundtrack for the Parajanov film The Colour of Pomegranates. It’s electronic music, sometimes with singing, that’s not strictly minimalist as it can resonate quite strongly. It’s really good.
3. Podcast
Milieux Bibliques by Thomas Römer
Thomas Römer is a theologian who teaches at the Collège de France, specialising in the history of the Bible. He will teach you things you might not otherwise know – for example, that the Bible has many origins, Assyrian, Babylonian and so on. He also talks about the origins of the word “Yahweh”. He’s a brilliant scholar. I’m a big podcast listener – I’m basically going back to academic studies via podcasts, and Collège de France is an excellent resource. Littérature française moderne et contemporaine by Antoine Compagnon is another series I’d recommend.
4. Art
Surrealism exhibition at Centre Pompidou, Paris
I’m not a natural fan of surrealism but I’d like to see this exhibition before it closes [on 13 January 2025] because I’d like it to convince me of the movement’s merits. Surrealist painting, by Dalí and Tanguy and so on, I find a bit facile, a bit rough around the edges, and the texts are very uneven. The movement suffers from a kind of forced unity and the big dilemma was their relationship with communism – Breton had his Stalinist period. But if anything convinces me, it’ll be this show. I’ve heard it’s very good and all the greats of surrealism are in it.
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5. Film
Diamantino (2018, dir Gabriel Abrantes and Daniel Schmidt)
The directors who made this excellent and quite surreal film are more fine artists than film-makers. It’s the story of a young Portuguese footballer called Diamantino who’s brilliant but a bit stupid, and he’s starting to develop breasts. When he scores goals, loads of fluffy dogs stream on to the field. He’s full of empathy and his dream is to try to rescue African migrants drowning in the Mediterranean. It’s a beautiful film and probably one of the influences on Emilia Pérez.
6. Event
I didn’t believe in the idea behind the Paris Olympics at all. I didn’t think you could use the city the way they ended up using it, but I have to say it was fabulous, how they managed to take all the sports out of the stadiums and put them in the city. The swimming in the Seine I found amazing. And I loved what artistic director Thomas Jolly did with the opening ceremony. Everything that was triggering people, like Marie Antoinette holding her own severed head, I really enjoyed. There was an irreverence to it that I loved.
Interview interpreted from French by Abla Kandalaft