2023-07-16 13:28:18
Endearing to be sure, and radiant in the expression of a conquering fragility, Jane Birkin had conquered a special place in the hearts of the French. Witness the emotion created by the announcement of the death of the actress and singer on Sunday July 16 at the age of 76. She has never departed from this bohemian simplicity and this natural class which gives so much brilliance to the multiple artistic projects in which she has participated, a little in her native country, the United Kingdom and most of the time in her homeland. of adoption, France.
Born on December 14, 1946 in the London district of Marylebone, Jane Birkin comes from a half-artist, half-aristocratic family. His mother, Judy Campbell, inspired Noël Coward in the theater and lent her classically beautiful face to many British films in the 1940s, later giving up her career to raise her children, Andrew, Jane and Linda. His father David Birkin, a war hero, an officer in the Royal Navy, took part in missions with the French Resistance.
“I was only pretty…”
The Knack… and how to get it, by Richard Lester launched the career of the lovely Jane in 1964. Michelangelo Antonioni spots her and gives her a very significant small role for his film Blow-up : Palme d’or at Cannes in 1967, scandal around the nudity of the young actress… Jane Birkin has made a name for herself.
« I always thought I wasn’t worthy of being so spoiled. I became famous at 17 without working hard like my mother with small theater companies. Which means that I was only pretty, with probably a certain vulnerability that directors liked.. I was always scared that people would find out that I wasn’t more than that.” she writes in Munkey Diariesthe first volume of his memoirs published in 2018.
She married composer John Barry and gave birth to her first daughter, Kate, in 1967., but the marriage does not last and the young woman arrives in Paris for tests for the film Slogan. His meeting with Serge Gainsbourg creates an electric alchemy between the two artists. Of the passion between Gainsbourg et son Gainsborough as described in the song 69 year eroticwill be born their daughter Charlotte in 1971 as well as an extraordinary work in songs.
Running away from happiness for fear that it will run away
I love you too, the couple’s torrid erotic duet on an organ riff inspired by Bach shocks, but also excites, on both sides of the Channel in 1969. If the frail voice, always on the edge, of Jane Birkin makes you smile or ironize , the sensitivity of his interpretations wins over. Gainsbourg writes tailor-made gems for her. “Fleeing happiness lest it run away/That the azure sky turns mauve/Thinking or moving on/Would be better/Fleeing happiness lest it run away/Telling oneself that it there is Over the Rainbow / Always higher the sun above / Radiant » reached a peak.
In French tinged with a British accent and mixed with English, Jane will interpret Baby Alone in Babylone, Ex Fan of the Sixties, Chic underwearor Norma Jean Baker in tribute to Marilyn Monroe. Quoia masterpiece of melancholy and romanticism, seals the break between Jane and Serge after ten years of living together.
At the cinema with the greatest, from Romy Schneider to Pierre Richard
In the meantime, the young woman has gained great popularity in the cinema: The swimming-pooland Jacques Deray, Dom Juan 73 by Roger Vadim, The mustard goes to my nose, The shallot Race et L’Animal by Claude Zidi Seven Ordered Deathsand Jacques Rouffio, Death on the Nile by John Guillermin… Jane Birkin replies to the greatest: Romy Schneider, Alain Delon, Brigitte Bardot, Belmondo, Pierre Richard, Trintignant, Bette Davis, Peter Ustinov, Maggie Smith…
Never recognized as a “great” actress, any more than she is considered a “good” singer, Jane Birkin nevertheless associated herself with the best of French cinema and song for three decades. Meeting her new companion, the director Jacques Doillon, father of her third daughter Lou Doillon born in 1982, on the set of The prodigal daughter, she moved towards auteur cinema in the 1980s. She toured with Agnès Varda, Jacques Rivette, Jean-Luc Godard, Bertrand Tavernier, Alain Resnais, James Ivory and Marion Vernoux. She will confide in front of her daughter’s camera for her latest film, Jane by Charlotte in 2021.
At the theater, we have seen her play Marivaux at Les Amandiers under the direction of Chéreau, Hamlet or The Trojans of Euripides in London, as well as his own play Oh ! Sorry you were sleeping at Gaité-Montparnasse. In song, she inspires Étienne Daho, Alain Souchon and Dominique A, performs with Miossec at the Printemps de Bourges, sings in duet with Paolo Conte or Rufus Wainwright, Zazie or Florent Marchet.
The tragedy of the death of his daughter Kate Barry in 2013
Jane Birkin is never afraid of paradoxes, she who gives her name to a Hermès bag, lends her face to major brands while engaging in many solidarity or humanitarian fights, Restau du cœur or campaign for democracy in Burma . Finally recognized as a writer with the two volumes of her memoirs Munkey Diaries followed by After writtenshe sees the end of her life darkened by a tragedy, the death of her daughter Kate in 2013.
Always elegant, always laughing, Jane Birkin continued to support cultural projects and go on stage despite health concerns that had weakened her for several years. Continuing until his last public appearances to accept with dignity a very personal philosophy. “Life is terribly funny or horribly sad. »
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