Maximilian Le Cain talks to legendary singer and actress Jane Birkin about working with respected filmmakers such as Agnès Varda, Jacques Doillon and Jacques Richard.

Last November Dublin's French Film Festival was host to a very special guest indeed: Jane Birkin, English-born legend of French music and cinema; lover and muse of poet-singer genius Serge Gainsbourg; partner of eminent film director Jacques Doillon; mother of actresses Charlotte Gainsbourg and Lou Doillon; daughter of late actress Judy Campbell. As a singer, her distinctive high, breathy voice was immortalised in duet with Gainsbourg, and in interpreting the many songs that he wrote for her. On screen her girlish, slightly awkward beauty and bewitching aura of invulnerably innocent sexuality quickly won her a reputation in light comedy. As her career progressed, it became evident that she was also an actress capable of sensitive and deeply emotional performances, excelling in films by some of France's finest filmmakers – Doillon, Rivette, Varda and Tavernier. Godard made use of her iconic presence in Soigne ta droite (1987) and she first gained notice for a small but, at the time, decidedly risqué part in Antonioni's Blow Up (1966). In the mid- '80s, theatre giant Patrice Chéreau persuaded her to embark on what proved to be a successful career on stage. A filmmaker in her own right, she has written and directed a feature-length TV movie, Oh pardon! Tu dormais... (1992), and two shorts. One of these was part of the Amnesty International portmanteau, Contre l'oubli (1991), a reflection of her passionate and ongoing engagement with social and political issues.

The full article is printed in Film Ireland 103.