Birkin was born to David Birkin and Judy Campbell, an actress in Noel Coward musicals. Her great aunt was Freda Dudley Ward, a mistress of Edward VIII while he was Prince of Wales.
Birkin emerged in the swinging '60s in London, starring as one of the models in the controversial film Blowup in 1966.
In 1968, Birkin went to France to audition for the lead female role in Slogan. Though she did not speak French, she got the role.
In 1969, she and Serge Gainsbourg released the song "Je t'aime... moi non plus" ("I love you... me neither"), written by Gainsbourg and featuring both of them singing, which caused a scandal for its sexual explicitness. Arguably due in part to the publicity it got from being banned by radio stations in Italy, Sweden, Spain, and the UK, it was a commercial success all over Europe. The song's fame is a result of its salacious lyrics (sung in French) against a background of female moaning and groaning, culminating in an orgasm at the song's conclusion (which some claim to be the result of Jane and Serge actually engaging in sex during the recording of the song).
Birkin took a short break from her acting career in 1971-72, but returned as Brigitte Bardot's lover in Don Juan (or if Don Juan were a woman) in 1973.
In 1975, she appeared in Gainsbourg's first film, also titled Je t'aime... moi non plus, which created quite a stir for its frank examination of sexual ambiguity. For this performance she was nominated for a Best Actress César Award.
Birkin has starred in the Agatha Christie films Death on the Nile and Evil Under the Sun, and recorded several albums, including Baby Alone in Babylone, Amours des Feintes, Lolita Go Home and Rendez-vous. She has obtained in the category Female Artist of the year in France the Victoires de la Musique award in 1992 .
She starred in two films by Jacques Doillon — as Anne in La fille prodigue (1981) and as Alma in La pirate (1984, nominated for a César Award). This work led to an invitation from Patrice Chéreau to star on stage in La Fausse suivante by Marivaux at Nanterre. After this, she also began to appear frequently on stage in plays and concerts (in France, Japan, the UK and then the US).
Jacques Rivette collaborated with her for Love on the Ground (1983) and La belle noiseuse (1991, Nominated Césars best supporting actress). Additionally, she appeared in Merchant Ivory's A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries (1998, also used her song "Di Doo Dah") and Merci Docteur Rey (2002), while Le Divorce's end title song featured her singing "L'Anamour", composed by Serge Gainsbourg.
In 2006, she played Elektra, directed by Philippe Calvario in France.
Jane Birkin's humanitarian interests led her to work with Amnesty International, on immigrant welfare and AIDS issues. Birkin has also visited Bosnia, Rwanda. and Palestinian Territories, often working with children. She has been awarded an OBE for her services to acting, as well as the Ordre National du Mérite in France.
She made musical collaborations and duets with artists such as Feist, Beth Gibbons from Portishead, Bryan Ferry, Brian Molko from Placebo, Franz Ferdinand, Manu Chao, Brett Anderson from Suede, Mickey (3d), Françoise Hardy, Cali, The Divine Comedy, The Magic Numbers, Paolo Conte, Beck, Rufus Wainwright, Yann Tiersen, Alain Souchon, Les Negresses Vertes, Johnny Marr from The Smiths, Zazie, MC Solaar, Yosui Inoue, Étienne Daho, Alain Chamfort, Jimmy Rowles, Goran Bregović, Sonny Landreth, The Soundtrack of Our Lives and many others.
Birkin recorded the song "Beauty" on French producer Hector Zazou's 2003 album Strong Currents.
She is noted as being the inspiration for fashion house Hermès' popular Birkin Bag after the actress was seen struggling with several bags while boarding an aeroplane.
Her image features on the cover art of Have You Fed the Fish? by singer-songwriter Badly Drawn Boy (which features her daughter Charlotte Gainsbourg on backing vocals).
Despite decades of residence in France and the ability to speak French fluently, Birkin still retains a strong English accent and makes grammatical mistakes when speaking French.
Personal Life :
She was married from 1965 until 1968 to John Barry, an English composer who wrote the musical score to the James Bond movies. Their daughter, the photographer Kate Barry, was born in 1968.
Muse of Gainsbourg :
She had a very passionate and creative relationship with her mentor Serge Gainsbourg — they met on the set of Slogan and married in 1968. They separated in 1980. Their daughter is actress Charlotte Gainsbourg.
In 1982 she gave birth to her third daughter, Lou Doillon, from her relationship with the director Jacques Doillon.
Rocking chair
Jane Birkin Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Me susurre Henry Miller
Dans son Tropique du Cancer
Du Cancer
Baudelaire
Me donne ce soir la chair
De poulette littéraire
Dans mon rocking-chair
Apollinaire
En a aussi des sévères
Et des pas mûres dans ses vers
Dans ses vers
Onze mille ver-
Ges me sens à bout de nerfs
Agitée comme un shaker
Dans mon rocking-chair
Est-ce en mystère
Vingt ou en hélicoptère
Que viendra Humbert Humbert
Je me ferai légère
Comme du polyester
Basculée les jambes en l'air
Dans mon rocking-chair
The lyrics of Jane Birkin's song Rocking chair are poetic and intriguing. The first stanza refers to Henry Miller's book Tropic of Cancer and his whispered words of perverse love. Baudelaire is also mentioned, with his literary "chicken flesh" arousing the singer's passions as she sits in her rocking chair.
The second stanza brings in another poet, Apollinaire, whose intense and sometimes unripe verses are apparently sending the singer's nerves into overdrive. She describes being shaken like a cocktail shaker as she sits in her rocking chair.
In the final stanza, the singer references Lolita, the famous novel by Vladimir Nabokov. Humbert Humbert, the singer who is infatuated with a young girl, is expected to arrive, and the singer imagines herself becoming light as polyester and tipping her legs up in the air in her rocking chair. The song overall suggests a sense of intense longing, poetic obsession, and desire.
Line by Line Meaning
Amour pervers
Henry Miller whispers to me about perverse love
Me susurre Henry Miller
Henry Miller whispers to me
Dans son Tropique du Cancer
In his book Tropic of Cancer
Du Cancer
Of Cancer
Baudelaire
Baudelaire
Me donne ce soir la chair
Gives me tonight the flesh
De poulette littéraire
Of literary chicken
Dans mon rocking-chair
In my rocking chair
Apollinaire
Apollinaire
En a aussi des sévères
Also has some severe ones
Et des pas mûres dans ses vers
And some immature ones in his verses
Dans ses vers
In his verses
Onze mille ver-
Eleven thousand worms
Ges me sens à bout de nerfs
I feel like my nerves are at their limit
Agitée comme un shaker
As shaken up as a shaker
Dans mon rocking-chair
In my rocking chair
Est-ce en mystère
Is it a mystery
Vingt ou en hélicoptère
Twenty or in a helicopter
Que viendra Humbert Humbert
That Humbert Humbert will come
Je me ferai légère
I will make myself light
Comme du polyester
Like polyester
Basculée les jambes en l'air
Legs in the air, tipped over
Dans mon rocking-chair
In my rocking chair
Contributed by Allison E. Suggest a correction in the comments below.