The famous Anglo-French singer and actress has died at the age of 76. We recall the main events of her life and admire the unique beauty of the style icon
Jane Mallory Birkin was born December 14, 1946 in London. Her mother was an actress and her father was a military man. For the first time, Birkin married at the age of 21 – to the English composer John Barry, known for writing music for films about James Bond. In this marriage, they had a daughter, Kate. Three years later, the couple divorced.
Birkin began her career as an actress in theater and cinema in the 1960s. In 1966, she starred in Michelangelo Antonioni’s Blow Up, which was nominated for an Oscar. Big success came to Birkin after moving from the UK to France and starring in the film “Slogan”, where she starred with her second husband Serge Gainsbourg.
The actress, who lived most of her life in France, said:
Without my accent, I would have had a different career. The French gave me a real gift, accepting me very quickly. They found me funny, mostly because of my accent and the mistakes I made in French. This is without a doubt one of the reasons why I never tried to improve it.
According to the memoirs of the actress, she was sometimes angry with herself that she did not put more effort into improving the French language. She stated that on the set of the film “Pool” director Jacques Dere made her speak with a pencil in her mouth to improve her speech. “It was humiliating and didn’t make much sense,” Birkin said.
The daughter of the actress from her first marriage to John Barry – Kate – starred in two films with her mother as a child, and as an adult she chose the profession of a photographer (she collaborated with Elle, Cosmopolitan, Paris Match, Sunday Times Magazine). In adolescence, she took drugs, after being cured, in the early 1990s she opened a center for the rehabilitation of drug addicts. She committed suicide in 2013 at the age of 46.
Jane Birkin with Serge Gainsbourg and daughter
Source: Legion-Media.ru
Filming in “Slogan” was the beginning of a long-term romantic and creative relationship between Birkin and Gainsbourg. They recorded a joint album, which received wide popularity, including thanks to the song “Je t’aime … moi non plus” (“I love you … I don’t have you either”). “Jealousy prompted me to perform this song. I remember how Serge made TV people and journalists listen to the version he made with [актрисой Брижит] Bardo, which was never released, ”said the actress. Gainsbourg also directed Birkin in his film of the same name. The couple broke up after 13 years of relationship, in 1980.
Married to Gainsbourg, Birkin gave birth to a daughter, Charlotte, who later also became a singer and actress.
In a relationship with director Jacques Duine, Birkin had a daughter, Lou. The couple separated in the early 1990s.
I must have been impossible to live with. Today I am very happy that I am no longer in love. When there is no love, there is no pain.
In the 1980s, Jean-Louis Dumas, the head of the Hermes house, who happened to be next to Jane Birkin on a plane flying from Paris to London, created a Birkin bag in her honor. In 2015, she spoke out against the mistreatment of crocodiles and asked that the bags be renamed until the company began to comply with international regulations applicable to their production.
“I don’t believe in fate. I think we can always change things. Unexpected cases are the best thing in the world; meet some incredible guy who will change your life, or an unusual project that will turn your career upside down. Often times when things aren’t going well, we’re forced to do things differently, and that suddenly becomes interesting,” Birkin said.
Birkin was awarded the French National Order of Merit and the Order of the British Empire.
Of the three daughters of Birkin, Charlotte Gainsbourg achieved the most recognition. She started her career in 1984. Among her famous works – participation in the films of the Danish director Lars von Trier, including the main roles in “Nymphomaniac” and “Antichrist” (for the latter she was awarded the prize at the Cannes Film Festival for “Best Actress”). She has also released several music albums, and in 2021 made a documentary about her mother, Jane Through Charlotte’s Eyes.
Jane Birkin with daughter Charlotte Gainsbourg
Source: Legion-Media.ru
In recent years, Birkin has continued to perform on stage. In 2021, she suffered a stroke and temporarily stopped her concert activities. In the spring of 2023, Birkin wanted to give several performances in Paris, but they were again canceled for health reasons.
Speaking about death, the actress noted that she had been close to her twice over the past few years, but did not panic about this. “I was more afraid that I would not have time to say what I wanted to say, put everything in order, get forgiveness,” Birkin said.
More about the movie
Jane Through Charlotte’s Eyes (2021)
Movie rating Mail.ru: 6.1
UK, France, Japan • Drama, biography, documentary, adventure
All films
