‘I never get tired of Poirot’s contempt for sloppiness’

Julia Ducournau was born in 1983 in Paris, where she still lives. A screenwriting graduate, she’s gone on to write and direct some of the most arresting body-horror films of recent years. Her 2016 debut feature, Raw, shocked audiences with its story of a student developing a taste for human flesh. Titane, which won the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 2021, was no less potent: The Observer called it “a visceral whirlwind of car sex, flesh-and-metal mutations”. Her latest film, Alpha, featuring a mysterious disease that turns people to marble, is out now. 

Agatha Christie’s Poirot (ITV)

I watch this Poirot series with David Suchet over and over again – I know the dialogue by heart and the many dry, witty punchlines. It’s a lullaby I play for my sleepless nights: incredibly comforting, with a twist of murder and intrigue. I obviously know who the murderer is in every episode – my favourites are The ABC Murders, The Mystery of Hunter’s Lodge and Peril at the End House – but I never get tired of Poirot’s logic, his quiet exasperation and contempt for sloppiness. For type A people.

Jack Whitten: The Messenger at MoMA, New York

Jack Whitten was an American artist who used acrylics in a unique way. I use acrylics in my painting too, so I went to his lifetime exhibition at MoMA to see what I could learn. It was like living next door to Everest and not knowing Everest was there: he was one of the major artists of the past century and [until attending the exhibition] I’d never heard of him. The biggest piece in the show takes up a whole wall; he painted it after witnessing September 11. It’s so striking, you feel its apocalyptic presence from 50 metres away.

Age of Content at Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris

I saw this show – which is by (La)Horde, a trio of choreographers who direct the Ballet National de Marseille – in Paris. It’s about the post-truth and post-reality that is social media. Watching it, I was thinking, Jesus, it’s like my movies were made into a ballet; it’s like our brains are wired exactly the same way. There’s even a scene where a woman dances on a lurching car, like in my film Titane. The dancers are outstanding. I want to work with them. If you ever get a chance to see them, please go.

The Ugly Stepsister (2025, dir. Emilie Blichfeldt)

This movie went a bit under the radar, but it really stuck with me visually, tonally and emotionally. It’s a take on the Cinderella story from the point of view of one of the stepsisters, who mutilates herself in order to abide by the standards of beauty set by Cinderella. It’s heart-wrenching, but the feeling of sorority that exudes from the ending is absolutely beautiful and made me cry my eyes out. Blichfeldt is a fearless director and this is an extremely assured first feature.

Deana Lawson at Bourse de Commerce, Paris

This was an incredible surprise; I didn’t know Deana Lawson’s work. She’s a fairly young artist who photographs people from the African-American community in their homes. The settings are mundane but she has a deep reverence for her subjects – they stand out as incredibly powerful characters. I also really related to her work on the body, because some of her subjects are  twerking, voguing and contorting. It makes them pop out of the frame. It’s beautiful. I’m in awe of her work.

Museum of Natural History, New York

At the Museum of Natural History, there are two gigantic centuries-old amethyst geodes from Uruguay that preside over the entire hall of gems. I go there as often as I can, like a pilgrimage. I’ve been collecting amethysts since I was a child, and to me these geodes look like ancestral gods. I can easily spend an hour standing there, worshipping them. They make me feel eerily centred and calm, like parents watching over me. I can’t explain it. It feels like they’re alive.

Photographs by Getty Images, MER Films