Guillaume Loiseau was in no way predisposed to thrive in the world of death. However, funeral counselor and master of ceremonies for the funeral agency l’Autre Rive for five years, this amateur musician claims to develop his creativity there while feeling ” useful “.
” One day, when I was unemployed, my trainers said to me: “ Guillaume, don’t take this the wrong way, but we would see you in the funeral home.“”. Installed in his agency tended in blue, in the 15th arrondissement of Paris, Guillaume Loiseau, 50, smiles at the evocation of his career.
Alternately computer teacher and educational adviser in a private high school, public relations officer of an association bringing together theater enthusiasts, commercial director of a company selling food supplements, unemployed… The man has exercised a host of professions, and nothing predisposed him to be seated here, in this bright room adorned with tombstones, where he works as a funeral director and master of ceremonies.
” Everything I’ve done before, I could bring to the world of funeral directors »
And yet… to the other shorethe independent funeral agency that has employed him for five years, Guillaume Loiseau feels “ like a fish in water. » « I realized very quickly that everything I had done before, I could bring to the world of funeral directors, says this man with a mastered story, teeming with anecdotes. As a funeral counselor and master of ceremonies, I take care of the legislation, I have a bit of a psychological side with the reception of families, a commercial side, there is a creative aspect too, I think about the architecture of funerary monuments, I organize the funeral… »
He punctuates his remarks by tapping the wooden table, around which, usually, bereaved families sit to organize the burial or cremation of one of their loved ones. Thanks to this profession particular “, synonymous for many with sadness and taboo, Guillaume Loiseau affirms to flourish and to have the feeling of being ” useful. »
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“ Sometimes I tell myself that my job is hard, but that I did it in the best way possible and that it turned out the best it could be for the family, he acknowledges with a smile, at ease in his dark blue suit. When I was a commercial director, you can’t say that I felt like I was changing people’s lives. Now, when I receive a disoriented, lost family, I say to them: “ we talk together and in two hours, you will have a date for the funeral ” , I feel useful. Families thank me for having accompanied them, for having participated in creating a ceremony in the image of the deceased. »
Personalized ceremonies
Funeral “ egyptians », with a coffin in the shape of a sarcophagus, cactus-based decorations, live concert, homage to Provence, where lavender replaces flower petals… The independent agency where he officiates, l’Autre Rive, seeks to build original and personalized ceremonies, far from rigid and stuffy burials.
An aspect that allows Guillaume Loiseau to bring together some of the red threads of his career, empathy, respect for others, creativity. “ For me, master of ceremonies is to be a conductorhe explains. I play a score written with the families, and on the day of the funeral, we interpret it. My instruments are the coffin bearers, the marble workers… You have to know how to speak, manage an assembly, adapt to the delay of a hearse. »
The metaphor is all the more meaningful since Guillaume Loiseau, a theater buff, is himself a musician and amateur pianist, singer in a vocal quartet, specializing in works from the Renaissance. It happens to him to put his musical skills at the service of certain ceremonies or to sit at the piano to replace an organist.
A distance to keep
” Usually, it takes three months to organize a show, he develops. In my job, I have eight days to accompany a deceased and a family from point A to point B. With few elements, in a very short time, I have to set up a ceremony that is in their image, that warms their hearts. I enjoy doing it. »
He recently organized the funeral of a double bass player, and remembers, touched, the words of the niece of the deceased at the end of the ceremony. ” He was a great musician, so I tried to use my musical knowledge, to talk about Wagner, the performers, to tell anecdotes…, he describes. And the audience didn’t laugh, no, but she smiled… Her niece said to me, “You mentioned his world, it was close to him, you called him by his first name… Thank you . “ »
This concern for the other, Guillaume Loiseau also expresses it by giving training to ENAMEF, the school which trains in funeral trades, and where he himself learned the trade. He tries to transmit to future funeral advisers the delicacy and the distance to adopt. ” It is a particular job that can be difficult. You have to have empathy, that’s for sure, but also perspective, maintain the necessary distance to sleep at night. »
No way, therefore, to avoid talking about his job, whether with family or during an evening with friends. “ Funeral directors, everyone wants to hear about it, to have anecdotes, he remarks. Initially, I did. And then when you tell a story, it’s even kinda funny, and the friend next to you starts crying… Now I refuse to talk about it. My relatives did not choose to do this job : I have to protect them. »