Charlotte Lucy Gainsbourg (born 21 July 1971) is an Anglo-French actress an… Read Full Bio ↴Charlotte Lucy Gainsbourg (born 21 July 1971) is an Anglo-French actress and singer. After releasing an album with her father at the age of fifteen, more than twenty years passed before she released three albums as an adult (5:55, IRM and Stage Whisper) to commercial and critical success. Gainsbourg has also appeared in many films, including several directed by Lars von Trier, and has received both a César Award and the Cannes Film Festival Best Actress Award. She is the daughter of English actress Jane Birkin and French singer and songwriter Serge Gainsbourg.

Gainsbourg made her motion picture debut playing Catherine Deneuve's daughter in the film Paroles et musique (1984). In 1986, Gainsbourg won a César Award for "Most Promising Actress" for L'effrontée, and, in 2000, she won "Best Supporting Actress" for the film La Bûche.

Gainsbourg made her musical debut with her father on the song "Lemon Incest" in 1984. Two years later, she released her debut album Charlotte for Ever, which was produced by her father.

In 2007, Gainsbourg appeared alongside Gael Garcia Bernal in Michel Gondry's La Science des rêves and as Claire in the Todd Haynes directed Bob Dylan biopic I'm Not There, also contributing a cover of the Dylan song "Just Like A Woman" to the film's soundtrack.

In 2006, Gainsbourg released her second album 5:55 to critical acclaim and commercial success, reaching the top spot on the French charts and achieving platinum status in the country. In the UK, the album was moderately successful, reaching #78 (The single The Songs That We Sing only made #129).

Gainsbourg has recently released her third studio album, IRM, which was produced by Beck. One of the influential factors in the album's creative process was her time spent filming Antichrist.

5:55
Charlotte Gainsbourg Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

A cinq heures cinquante-cinq
Awake with open eyes
A drift upon the night
And miles away from land

[Chorus]
Five fifty five
Five fifty five

A cinq heures cinquante-cinq
Ante meridiem
Too late to end it now
Too early to start again

[Chorus]

Soon the morning will arrive
Can I begin another day
Whilst this old day is still alive
Refusing to be put away

Five fifty five
No sleep tonight
Five fifty five

Like a beast awaits its faith
Laid here with time to kill
The very dead of night
Where time and space stand still

[Chorus]

A cinq heures cinquante-cinq
Nothing will ever change
On the altar of my thought
I sacrifice myself again and again and again

[Chorus]

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to Charlotte Gainsbourg's song 5.55 speak of a sleepless night, where the singer is awake at five fifty-five in the morning, drifting through the night and miles away from land. The chorus repeats the time and creates a sense of urgency. It feels like the singer is stuck in a liminal space, between yesterday and today, where it's too late to end the old day, but too early to start again. The person is looking for a restart button, maybe waiting for the morning to come so they can begin anew.

Furthermore, the lyrics create a sense of despair, where the person is laying with time to kill "like a beast awaits its fate," and time and space stand still. The imagery is powerful - the dead of night seems like an endless void, and the person is stranded in that moment, with nothing changing, left to sacrifice one's thoughts again and again. It feels like the person is in a vicious cycle of self-destruction, and no matter how much they try, they cannot escape the monotony of their thoughts. In short, the song's lyrics incite a powerful sense of restlessness, a desperation to find meaning, and a need to escape from the past and start anew.

Line by Line Meaning

A cinq heures cinquante-cinq
At five fifty-five in the morning

Awake with open eyes
I'm awake and alert, not drowsy or sleepy.

A drift upon the night
I am just drifting around without a clear direction or purpose.

And miles away from land
I feel alone, detached, and far away from civilization.