Why Nico chose to star in a silent film over signing a new record contract: “It’s amazing”
While she’s most often celebrated for her work during the 1960s as both a solo artist and for her collaboration with The Velvet Underground, Nico’s career during the 1970s was perhaps full of more unusual left turns.
After the release of The Velvet Underground & Nico and her solo debut, Chelsea Girl, both in 1967, Nico endured a troubled period whereby her work became increasingly avant-garde and consequently, less commercially successful. Through her continued association with John Cale, it was evident that she wanted to become more experimental in her sound, which resulted in a significant slump.
That isn’t to say that her work during this period wasn’t still artistically ambitious, with records like The Marble Index and Desertshore still challenging listeners and opening their minds to more progressive styles, but it was only ever likely to appeal to a niche market, whereby she would make the sacrifice of shrinking her fanbase to pursue something more creatively rewarding.
Over the course of her first four studio albums, she hopped between four different record labels, largely due to the fact that depleted record sales scared off executives who saw committing to lengthier deals as a major financial risk. This, coupled with her tendency to avoid performing live on a regular basis, meant that her time in the spotlight was limited, and gaps between releases also began to increase in duration.
However, that doesn’t mean that she was out of work entirely during these periods, and instead of consistently releasing music, she was also turning her hand towards the avant-garde in another artistic discipline.
Throughout the 1970s, Nico appeared in seven films by French director Philippe Garrel, establishing herself as one of his go-to muses during the period, and during a 1978 interview with Zigzag, she divulged exactly why she had chosen to favour appearing in films instead of returning to recording music, which she had taken a hiatus from after the release of her 1974 album, The End.
“I’ve been sort of disappearing and reappearing,” she admitted. “I went to Los Angeles thinking I could sign a record contract. It may have been easier if I’d been more patient about it. I left after two months. Not patience only, but because I also had to play in a film, which is called Le Bleu Des Origines. I’m the lead role this time.”
While her claiming that she had the lead role in the film is a loose attribution, with her having portrayed herself on the roof of an apartment block, reading a book as the wind blows in her hair, the film was still a significant one that she relished having the opportunity to appear in for various reasons. “This film is very special because it’s a revival of the first movie ever made; La Lumière,” she added. “It’s a silent one. It’s amazing.”
Of course, while many would have hoped that instead of pursuing this fanciful sidequest into the world of avant-garde cinema, she would have taken the opportunity to release more music, she did eventually return to music in 1981 with Drama of Exile, although sadly, this would end up being her penultimate release before her tragic death in 1988.
