Her father died of tuberculosis in 1917, and due to the hardships of life in the German capital Joachim was sent back to France in the autumn of 1918, living with an aunt before her mother returned in 1920.
At the instigation of Jean Gehret, in 1933 Joachim began singing lessons, with Germaine Chevalet; her progress was such that she entered the competition to enrol at the Conservatoire de Paris, joining the class of Suzanne Cesbron-Viseur in October 1935, later studying with Georges Viseur (solfège) and Pierre Chéreau.
She would follow these during the Second World War with not only the first complete recording of Pelléas et Mélisande, but vocal music by Yves Nat and excerpts from Les Indes galantes.
[5] While her operatic career continued, the post-war years saw Joachim develop a fruitful relationship in recital with Jane Bathori; later in the 1950s, with other accompanists she made several broadcasts for French radio.
Radio broadcasts covered another Opéra-Comique performance of Pelléas et Mélisande with Jansen, conducted by Jean Fournet (12 February 1955), plus many songs and recitals, particularly of 20th century repertoire.
[6] Joachim's first films date from her time at the Conservatoire; she took part in Jean Renoir's Les bas fonds (the voice of a cabaret singer) in 1936, and in La Marseillaise in 1937 (Madame de Saint-Laurent, singing and accompanying herself).
She appeared and sang in the 1943 film Les anges du péché (Robert Bresson), and in 1951 La dernière étape by Wanda Jakubowska.
In 1946 she became one of the first people to sing 'Feuilles mortes' by Kosma, with Yves Montand, in Les Portes de la nuit by Marcel Carné.