Jane Birkin was found dead in her home by her personal nurse, French media report. She had been struggling with health problems for some time and had to cancel concerts before. In 2002, Birkin was diagnosed with leukemia, for which she underwent several treatments. In 2021 she had a stroke. It is not yet clear what Birkin died of.
First steps in the film world
Jane Mallory Birkin was born on December 14, 1946 in the cozy London neighborhood of Marylebone. She is the daughter of David Birkin, a Royal Navy lieutenant who collaborated with the French Resistance during World War II, and Judy Campbell, a handsome actress.
At a young age she was cast by the English music writer John Barry for his musical “Passion flower hotel”. She describes him as “the first man who loved her, at 17”. The man has the soundtrack of many James Bond films to his credit and she marries him at the age of 19. In April 1967 they have a daughter Kate Barry together. Barely a year later, the relationship ends.
Jane Birkin with daughter Kate Barry. 2006 Getty Images
In the same year, Jane takes her first real steps in the film world with small roles in the film “Blowup” and in the psychedelic film “Wonderwall”. Then, at the age of 22, she goes to France to audition for the female lead in the film “Slogan”, starring 40-year-old Serge Gainsbourg.
Gainsbourg is already a world star in France at the time and is mourning his split with Brigitte Bardot. The French actor takes Jane hard during the audition. When she bursts into tears, he disapproves, but admits “she can cry well in front of a camera”. Although Birkin doesn’t speak French at all and doesn’t know her co-star, she still gets the part.
Marriage to Serge Gainsbourg
On the set of “slogan”, the romance between Jane Birkin and the eighteen-year-older Serge Gainsbourg sees the light, although the relationship does not have an obvious start. After her first meeting with the Frenchman, Jane tells about him: “He is destined to be my love, but he is also an arrogant snob who despises me incredibly.”
On their first night alone, Gainsbourg takes her on a tour of the Parisian clubs, including a transvestite club, and falls asleep drunk. They become a couple. Their romance grows into a living legend, and Birkin into the much-sung muse of actor, director and singer Gainsbourg.
Jane Birkin en Serge Gainsbourg.
In 1969 they released a second version of the erotic song “Je t’aime moi non plus” written by Gainsbourg. The first version was recorded with the French actress Brigitte Bardot, but she later found the recording too daring to release. Gainsbourg asks young Jane to record a second version with him and she agrees, mainly because she “wanted to avoid him singing it with anyone else”.
BEKIJK – Fragmenten uit “69 erotic year” en “Je t’aime moi non plus” van Birkin en Gainsbourg.
The single is controversial due to its explicit sexual nature. “Je t’aime…” sounds so convincing that rumors are circulating that the couple actually recorded the song during a lovemaking session. And even though it’s the 1960s and the hippies are trying to convince everyone that sex isn’t evil, some radio stations refuse to play it. The BBC only brings its own orchestral version and the Vatican also expresses its contempt. Nevertheless, the single becomes a hit in many European countries. In 1971, the successful couple had a daughter: Charlotte.
Birkin and Gainsbourg with their daughter Charlotte and Birkin’s first daughter Kate.
Jane Birkin with daughter Charlotte. AFP or licensors
Jane as a fashion icon: the Birkin Bag
In the early 1970s, Birkin focused mainly on her film career, including as the lesbian lover of Brigitte Bardot in Roger Vadim’s “Don Juan 73”. In the second half of the 1970s she records a number of albums with Gainsbourg, including “Lolita go home” and “Ex-fan des sixties”. Her records are particularly successful in France.
Yet Jane also grows into an international fashion icon. Without wanting to be obsessively fashionable, she set the tone for feminine Paris and far beyond with her personality and her nonchalance.
On a flight from London to Paris, she meets the boss of the fashion house Hermès. When she tries to put her hand luggage in the compartment above their heads, her bag falls out again and the contents end up on the floor of the plane. She sighs to the man that it’s hard to find a nice leather bag. A few years later, Hermès designed a black leather bag for her: the Birkin Bag. The bag is becoming very well known and is still so popular that there are long waiting lists for it.
The popular Birkin Bag from Hermès. 2023 Jeremy Moeller
The difficult break with Gainsbourg
In 1980 Birkin leaves Gainsbourg after a relationship of 12 years. She starts a relationship with the French director Jacques Doillon, with whom she has her third daughter in 1982: Lou. Under the wing of Doillon, Birkin stars in the films “La fille prodigue” and “La Pirate”. After lighter work in the Agatha Christie films “Death on the Nile” and “Evil under the sun”, it is her first more serious roles and the critics are impressed.
WATCH – Jane Birkin on the movie “La pirate”:
But Gainsbourg and Birkin do not lose sight of each other. The French singer suffers greatly from the breakup and writes “Baby alone in Babylon” for Jane. In the meantime she has gained enough self-confidence to be on stage as a singer and in 1987 she gives a show in Bataclan. According to that show’s director, “she cuts her hair short, dresses like a boy and takes singing lessons so that Serge would be impressed”. Gainsbourg is in the hall every evening.
In 1990 he dedicates a new record to her: “Amours des feintes”. It is his last, because on March 2, 1991, Gainsbourg dies. For Birkin, this is an almost unbearable loss. She puts the stuffed animal that she always has with her in the box with him. Her father also dies a few days later. Lost two heroes in three days. In the 1990s, the Doillon-Birkin couple split up because, according to some sources, Doillon cannot cope with Jane’s grief over Serge’s death.
Jane Birkin and daughter Lou. 2016 Getty Images
Humanitarian missions
After the breakup, Birkin remains alone. She focuses on her family and her three daughters. She is also committed to charities. She sings for Amnesty International and makes a short film for the fight against AIDS. Birkin also goes on humanitarian missions. She rides along with a tank full of supplies and literature to the besieged city of Sarajevo during the war in former Yugoslavia.
She is also a pro-democracy advocate in Burma, now called Myanmar, campaigning for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi, who was under house arrest in the country at the time. After the earthquake in Japan and the nuclear catastrophe in Fukushima, Birkin immediately takes a plane to sing in Tokyo at a benefit concert.
Birkin campaigns in Myanmar for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi MIGUEL MEDINA
Heavy blow by loss of eldest daughter
Only in 1996 is she ready to pick up the musical thread again. Her fans keep begging her to sing “Serge” for them. In the end she gives in and records the album “Versions Jane”, where various artists such as Goran Bregovic take on fifteen tracks from the repertoire of the young Gainsbourg.
In 1998 she records “À la légère” and in 2004 “Rendez-vous”, an album full of duets with Françoise Hardy, Bryan Ferry and Beth Gibbons, among others. In 2008 she records the record “Enfants d’hiver”, where for the first time the lyrics of the songs are written entirely by herself.
Privately, Jane Birkin was dealt another serious blow in the winter of 2013 when her eldest daughter Kate died at the age of 46. Kate is the only one of the three daughters who does not like the spotlight and chooses the anonymous side of the lens: photography.
Jane with her eldest daughter Kate.
On December 11, 2013, she fell from the fourth floor of her Paris apartment. She is alone and antidepressants are found. Birkin can’t get over this tragic event. One year later, December 2014, she herself is rushed to hospital.
Jane Birkin on the loss of her eldest daughter, Kate.
Awards and Recognitions
Jane Birkin has won many awards in her lifetime. She is an Officer of the Order of the British Empire. In France she received official recognition for her merit as an actress and singer. In 1985 she won the Best Actress Award for her role in the film “Dust” at the Venice Film Festival, and for her role in the film “Leave all fair” at the New Orleans Film Festival.
WATCH – Jane Birkin talks about the movie “Dust” in an interview:
2023-07-16 11:25:00
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