Death of Jane Birkin, singer and actress Gainsbourg, Doillon, Rivette and Varda

The huge Jane Birkin is no more. According to information obtained by Le Parisien, the 76-year-old singer was found dead at his home on Sunday. Recently, he canceled concerts due to health reasons, in a statement in May: “I have always been a great optimist and I realize that I still need some time to be able to be on stage again with you.“

Daughter of actress Judy Campbell and a Royal Navy commander, Jane Birkin He took his first steps in the theater at the age of 17 in a play by Graham Greene, then in the musical Passion flower hotel, where he met his first companion, the composer John Barry.

She appeared on screen in 1965, alongside two other debutantes, Charlotte Rampling and Jacqueline Bisse, in the landmark London swinging film The Knack…or How To Get It, Palme d’Or at Cannes. An award that will also go to his next film, Antonioni’s Blow-up, in which he caused a scandal by appearing naked.

Meeting with Serge Gainsbourg

Coming to France in 1968, Jane Birkin successfully auditioned for the movie Slogan. His partner is the one who will become his Pygmalion and with whom he will form one of the most popular couples in France in the 1970s, Serge Gainsbourg, who will allow him to continue his singing career at the same time.

Society is quick to seduce the intelligent Englishwoman who indulges her imagination and her accent in successful comedies such as La Mustarde goes under my nose by Claude Zide. In 1975, he found more challenging roles in Seven Dead by Order and Je t’aime, moi non plus, Gainsbourg’s daring first film, which shocked audiences.

Shooting with the new wave

By 1980, Birkin, separated from the Cabbage-Headed Man, was living with Jacques Doyon, who cast her in three films – including La Pirate, a brutal work that rocked the Croisette in 1984 – and opened the doors of the cinema to her. the author. “Suddenly I had to give everything, and before that no one asked me to give everything”He trusted in 1992 indestructible.

Filmmakers as demanding as Rivette (L’Amour par terre, La Belle Noiseuse), Varda (Jane B. Agnes V. / Kung Fu Master) or Tavernier (Father Nostalgia) reveal a dynamic and inventive cast. The 80s, a rich decade, saw his face on stage, both in the theater and in concert.

Between French and English, songs and films, popular cinema and radical works, Jane Birkin has a special place in the cultural landscape, but since the 90s she has become rarer on screens. However, we will remember Noir as Moki’s memory and participation we know in the song. In the 2000s, she revived her debut burlesque register with the comedies Reines d’un jour, Mariees mais pas trop or Thelma, Louise and Chantal.

in 2009, Jacques RivetteA film director devoted to actors, offers him a beautiful melancholy and mysterious role in 36 Views of the Pic Saint-Loup. Four years later, he broke into the melancholic and intimate world of South Korean filmmaker Hong Sang-soo, often compared to Romer, in Haewon and the Men.

Director

Has been behind the camera since the early 90s with two short films and the TV movie Oh padon! You were asleep…, in 2007 he directed the feature film Boxes, with autobiographical touches, which was presented at the Cannes Film Festival. She continued to shine in singing in the late 2010s, especially Birkin/Gainsbourg: Symphonywhere he takes on the songs of his former companion and Oh ! Sorry you were sleeping…In collaboration with Etienne Dahoe.

In 2022, when he was not on the big screen for many years, he returned to the front of the stage, moreover, in front of the camera of his daughter, in the documentary Jane Charlotte, which takes an intimate and modest look. love