Beyond her success as a singer (which was never a blockbuster, but attracted a loyal fan base around the world), Birkin also had a stellar career as an actress, conveying the same vibes on screen that she does in music. rice field. Her seemingly nonchalant demeanor masks her melancholy core.
In 1969, the year Slogan was released, Birkin had a supporting role alongside Alain Delon and Romy Schneider in Jacques Deray’s now-cult thriller La Piscine. She also appears in popular comedies such as “La Piscine” and “La Moutarde Me Monte au Nez!”. (1974) and La Course à l’Échalote (1975), she continued to dig for that gamine charm and cute accent that allowed her to make a predictable, if comfortable, acting career. It must have been. But in typical Birkin fashion, she suddenly changed her style by starring in her provocative debut in Gainsbourg. “je t’aime moi non plus” (1976), she played an androgynous waitress who had a rather complicated relationship with a gay man played by Andy Warhol and Paul Morrissey regular Joe Dallesandro.
In the 1970s and early 80s, Birkin made Gainsbourg records and worked in mainstream films such as Death on the Nile (1978), which featured the kind of international star buffet devoured by blockbusters of the time. We alternated to appear in. Co-stars include Peter Ustinov, Bette Davis, David Niven, Mia Farrow and Angela Lansbury.
In yet another twist to her career, after Gainsbourg, Birkin had an affair with uncompromising filmmaker Jacques Doillon. In 1984 she starred in his film. The frenzied film La Pirates, brutally intense She plays Alma, who is torn between her husband (played by Birkin’s real-life brother Andrew) and a woman (Marschka Detmers). It feels like the new Jane Birkin, living her physicality in a dangerously free way, and it earned her the first of three César Award nominations.
The following year she starred in the influential Patrice Chéreau’s production of Marivaux at the Théâtre de Nanterre. Despite her apprehensions, her performance was a success and Birkin continued to appear on stage, alternating between Boulevard songs and Euripides as usual.
