Guillaume Nicloux: “My ears had changed skin”

The unusual director of Michel Houellebecq's The Abduction and Valley of Love has just finished, for France Télévisions, the film Les Rives du fleuve, inspired by Les Fossoyeurs , Victor Castanet's book on the decline of nursing homes, and is preparing a thriller for the cinema.

What was the first record you bought as a teenager?

Three Imaginary Boys by The Cure, bought at a small record store in Issoire, Auvergne. I must have been 13. I then went back to my grandparents' house in Saint-Yvoine. I put the record on the turntable and it stayed there until evening, without interruption. The next day my ears had changed skin.

The last record you bought?

Parallels by German musician and DJ Christian Löffler on CD.

Where do you listen to music?

Do you listen to music while working?

Yes, just instrumental pieces on repeat. Currently, works by Shida Shahabi, Howard Skempton, Hania Rani, and Morton Feldman.

The song you're ashamed to listen to with pleasure?

It's Too Late to Make Love by Patrick Juvet . This is an opportunity to mention a few other Juvet titles, Les Lunettes noires, Faut pas rêver, Pas assez de toi or Rêves immoralaux.

The disc for surviving on a desert island?

The Pearl, Harold Budd/Brian Eno. Budd was a very important discovery for me; his music has been with me for 40 years. I've listened to this record hundreds of times, and it's one of the few where I never play just one song, but the whole album systematically.

Is there a label or record company that you are particularly attached to?

Mute Records and ECM. For their foresight and eclecticism.

Which record cover do you want to frame in your home as a work of art?

The cover of Unfinished Music No. 1: Two Virgins by John Lennon & Yoko Ono, without its Kraft packaging.

A record you would like to hear at your funeral?

Do you know what drone metal is?

Yes, I like the one by Dylan Carlson (the guitarist of the band Earth, editor's note).

Do you prefer records or live music?

Records. Even if Irène Drésel at the Olympia is also very good. Besides, she's composing the music for my next film.

Your best concert memory?

Shannon Wright at the Café de la danse in 2016. I love her music and her voice, the way she takes to the stage, her violence and her contagious melancholy.

Do you go to clubs to dance, flirt, listen to music, or do you never go to clubs?

Never, and I regret it. It's difficult for me to go to places where the crowds are dense. The low ceiling height is also an obstacle.

What's a band you hate seeing live, but whose records you love?

Sun Kil Moon, the band of Mark Kozelek (who is also the singer of Red House Painters, editor's note).

Your favorite musical movie and your favorite movie score?

Tommy by Ken Russell and The Hours by Philip Glass.

The song that makes you mad with rage?

There's joy, Charles Trenet. It's impossible to hear, I'm capable of jumping off a moving train to escape it.

The last record you listened to on repeat?

The Sacrificial Code by Kali Malone.

The group you would have liked to be part of?

The song or piece of music that made you cry?

Meio Termo by the Stars.

What are your three favorite titles ?

Lucio Battisti, Il mio canto libero (1972). The Fall, The Blindness (2005). Frank Ocean, Pyramids (2012). And a fourth, for fun, Mac Miller, Cinderella .