Charlotte Gainsbourg has been following her mother for three years, camera in hand.
A documentary on the life and memories of Jane Birkin should thus see the light of day.
In
Paris Match
, the
one who was Serge Gainsbourg's muse for a long time evokes this family film, without specifying when it will be ready to be broadcast.
“
It's so happy to share this project,”
she says.
I never imagined that she was so curious about me.
I knew the great place that Serge had in her life, as well as the grief and the pain she experienced.
But I didn't think she wanted to know so much about me.
"
Read also: How the muse Jane Birkin freed herself
His daughter now films Jane Birkin at concerts or on getaways, and little by little tries to tell it.
The shooting began during a stay in Japan and continued in dotted lines, from New York - where Charlotte Gainsbourg lives - to Paris via Finistère where the singer likes to escape.
Jane Birkin is particularly attached to the land of the Abers, where her father, Royal Navy officer David Birkin, had organized the recovery of English pilots during World War II alongside the Breton resistance fighters.
"
Real complicity
"
Charlotte Gainsbourg prepared for a long time before soliciting the secrets of her mother.
“
She spent a lot of time on her research, it created a real bond between us and it really touched me,”
continues Jane Birkin in
Paris
Match
.
It was also an excuse to be together, because we had been apart for six years.
She had needed to go to New York after Kate died and I understood that very well.
But I fell ill, I couldn't go see her ...
"
Jane Birkin's eldest daughter, photographer Kate Barry, died in 2012. In 2018, the actress and singer spoke of this personal drama on France Inter.
“
I was pretty sure of myself as a mom,” she says.
It's ridiculous but I was thinking, I know what to do, I know how to feed them, I know how to massage them, I know how to cajole them ...
"This fragile certainty collapses with the loss of Kate.
“
When my daughter died, I lost that confidence, so I didn't know what to do anymore
,” she explains.
Read also: Five years after the death of her daughter Kate, Jane Birkin confides in her difficult reconstruction
This documentary project now strengthens the links between Jane Birkin and Charlotte Gainsbourg.
“
Kate was my first child,
recalled the first in
Ciné-Télé-Revue
, at the beginning of December.
Charlotte was my second.
She wonders if she was loved the same, we had less time alone.
Maybe this documentary film is actually a great excuse to be just between us, two.
And I don't want it to stop.
"
For her part, Charlotte Gainsbourg has long wanted to honor the work of her parents, a legendary couple from the 1970s. The French actress and singer has long considered opening to the general public 5 bis, rue de Verneuil in Paris, where his father lived.
The home of the interpreter of
La Javanaise
has remained as it is since his death in 1991.