The artist Jane Birkin, who had a distinctive spot on the French star map with her combination of sensuality, intelligence, and unique ability to express her sentiments behind a humble façade, died on Sunday in Paris at age 76.
The daughter of Judy Campbell, and the singer of “Je t’aime Moi Non Plus,”–the Russian composer/producer Serge Gainsbourg’s eternal muse–had suffered several health problems in recent years.
After winning her battle with leukemia, she suffered a mild stroke in September 2021, forcing her to cancel several concerts that year.
At the age of 17, she started acting. At the end of the 1960s, she transitioned to film, where she created a name for herself with Michelangelo Antonioni’s Blow Up.
Gainsbourg’s concept album Histoire de Melody Nelson, which was centered on Jane, was released in 1971. This commercial flop ironically turned into a classic.
She recorded Baby Alone in Babylone (1983), which went gold.
Three of Jacques Doillon’s feature films–La Pirate (1984), Comédie (1987), and La Fille Prodigue (1980)–all featured Birkin.
Birkin attended the Cannes Film Festival in 2021 with her daughter Charlotte, who presented the documentary Jane par Charlotte, an homage to her mother in the form of a feature-length documentary.