With more than 90 films and 20 studio albums, Jane Burgin was more than Serge Gainsbourg’s best love.

In retrospect, you might now say the documentary wasn’t shot too soon: Jane of Charlotte (2021) Charlotte Charlotte Gainsbourg and Jane, Jane Birkin. As her mother turned 75, Charlotte from 1971 decided to shoot an intimate portrait of Jane.

Like them Volkskrant magazine When the documentary was released in the Netherlands in 2022, he explained: ‘Everyone always talks about my father and I get it. But my film should be about my mother.

ok Jane Birkin, 76, who died in Paris on July 16, was a member of Franco-British artistic royalty. An eclectic mix of swinging 1960s London and the timeless grandeur of Paris. Even more than the great love of Serge Gainsbourg (1928-1991).

Anglo-French accent

Jane Burgin was born in London on December 14, 1946, the daughter of theater actress Judy Campbell and naval officer David Burgin. The fact that he did not speak French at first was not considered a problem in and around Paris. They actually found the British-French accent very cute.

Jane Burkin eventually starred in more than ninety films, but her first real role was in an instant classic. Demolition (1966) Michelangelo Antonioni – A thriller set through the eyes of photographer Thomas (David Hemmings) as he explores London. She was a fashion model for Thomas, and in the credits she was listed as “.Blonde‘.

She sizzles in her role in the sensual psychological thriller La resin (Jacques Deray, 1969) in which she played – opposite Alain Delon and Romy Schneider – the rebellious teenage daughter Penelope, with a lot of bitterness.

In her poolside white bikini and mascara-dotted lashes, she looked like a first-rate flirt. Very much a French native, Jane Birkin was immediately bombarded as Lolita or the new Brigitte Bardot – and Birkin played well. Charlotte Gainsbourg: ‘I was very aware of Jane’s beauty. It was difficult for a young woman because I didn’t have that beauty. I am just like my father.

An exciting relationship

She met Serge Gainsbourg in 1968 on the set of a French romantic comedy. slogan (Pierre Grimblat). It was the start of a twelve-year relationship, described as ‘exciting’ by both parties.

As well as being an actress and fashion model, Birkin was also a chansoner. He has recorded twenty studio albums, the last of which was released in 2020 oh Sorry Dormice… In addition, she brought six liveAlbums outside.

The decisive number is natural Je t’aime… moi non plus. A song with a story. Serge Gainsbourg had already written a duet for Brigitte Bardot in 1967, with whom he recorded it. However, her then-husband Gunter Sachs – German businessman Annex Playboy – found the sensual sigh number too flat an affair. Can it be traded?

Contradiction of number

The high irony of the song escaped him, as did a recent TV series about chansons on Dutch television. It’s not the smartest love song of all time. It is precisely about two lovers sweet-talking each other, but they know what it really means.

Her: “Oh… Oh… I love you.”

Him: ‘I know that dear…I know it too No Yours.’

The usual troublemaker was Gainsbourg. In 1969 he re-recorded the song with Jane Birkin and it was promptly banned from the radio in Spain, Sweden, England, Italy, Brazil, Portugal, the US and France until 11pm and on several class nights. . Corruption! Exactly the intention. Number 1 everywhere, selling more than three million singles.

‘A rich life’

Those are all things that came in Jane of Charlotte. One of the highlights of this film is a joint visit to Serge Gainsbourg’s former home at 5 bis Rue de Verneuil in Paris, where everything is in its original state. “Before that, I never asked Jane to come here. I thought it would be very painful for her. But it felt like we were opening a secret room together.

There are trips to New York and Brittany, cooking is done at home, and Charlotte’s daughter Jo helps, so we see three generations on screen. Jane talks about her first husband, John Barry, a film composer. He talks about the loss of his daughter Kate. He reminisced about his tumultuous relationship with Serge Gainsbourg. He also outlines his adventures in the world of film and music. ‘A rich life,’ concluded Charlotte Gainsbourg.
Henceforth, his biographical portrait is a timeless document. We can’t get any closer to Jane Burgin.