Jane Birkin ‘s death was announced a couple of days ago. It’s obviously really sad, as it is when anyone passes away, especially one who impacted upon popular culture in a myriad of ways. Every column and obituary piece upon her passing has defined her as “a style icon”. That’s fine, but she was a singer and actor primarily, and should be treated with more respect .
I’m not going into her many controversies: we all know about her Lolita-esque role in Antonioni’s Blow Up , Je t’aime…Moi Non Plus and how it was supposedly banned by the Vatican, and so on.
Julie Burchill has written a pretty spiteful piece on her in The Spectator, in response to claims in (where else?) The Daily Mail that she wasn’t “trashy” like “today’s female celebrities”. and fulminating over her nudity and sexy image, implying that she was indeed “trashy’.
What interests me more was her eccentric sense of humour. If you’ve ever seen interviews with Birkin, she’s so funny. On a tv appearance with Graham Norton, she said, “Much better thank you”, when he asked how she was, before making an almost unrepeatable comment about Leonardo di Caprio, and anecdotes about taxi drivers getting aroused by her most infamous song. She was like a delightfully batty aunt.who’d come to tea.
Birkin in Vogue
She was complex, vulnerable but likeable, and indeed lanky and awkward when women were “supposed” to look like Anita Ekberg. She broke the mould, too, with her wispy, feather- light singing voice.’Melody Nelson’ is a classic album.
But the problem is that she’ll always be linked to Serge Gainsbpurg, despite having married Jacques Douillon after him. Gainsbourg was an alcoholic,boorish lech, lest we forget, who didn’t treat women very well, but was venerated because some of his music was magical (not THAT ‘Je t’ aime’ song though, it’s dire Europop) and liked them young. It’s a real shame, as though she wasn’t allowed to come out from under his shadow. To be fair, she continued to perform his songs live, long after they split, but it seems that she always was and will be defined by him.
It was as if they were produced in a pack of two, rather than Birkin being regarded as an individual artist in her own right. The muse cliche does nobody any favours. Let’s regard Jane Birkin as the singular trailblazer Jane Birkin, the smart, articulate and hilarious artist with the cheeky smile and free spirit.
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