In addition to her success as a singer—not a blockbuster by any means, but attracting a loyal fan base around the world—Birkin had a thriving career as an actress, exuding a similar vibe on screen as she does in music: a natural, unadorned beauty; an apparently casual attitude that camouflages a melancholy core.
In 1969, the year ‘Slogan’ came out, Birkin played a supporting role in Jacques Deray’s torrid, now cult thriller ‘La Piscine’ alongside Alain Delon and Romy Schneider. With ‘La Piscine’ and popular comedies like ‘La Moutarde Me Monte au Nez!’ (1974) and “La Course à l’Échalote” (1975), she could have continued to mine her boyish charm and adorable accent for a comfortable but predictable acting career. But in typical Birkin fashion, she made an abrupt stylistic turn by starring in Gainsbourg’s provocative feature debut ‘Je T’Aime Moi Non Plus’ (1976), portraying an androgynous waitress who has a rather complicated relationship with a gay man. . man played by Andy Warhol and Paul Morrissey’s regular guest Joe Dallesandro.
For much of the 1970s and early 1980s, Birkin alternated between making Gainsbourg records and appearing in mainstream films, including “Death on the Nile” (1978), with the kind of international celebrity buffet that blockbuster movies of the time: Her co-stars included Peter Ustinov, Bette Davis, David Niven, Mia Farrow and Angela Lansbury.
Another twist to her career is that after Gainsbourg, Birkin dated the uncompromising filmmaker Jacques Doillon. In 1984, she starred in his brutally intense, feverish film “La Pirate” as Alma, who is torn between her husband (played by Birkin’s own brother, Andrew) and a woman (Maruschka Detmers). It felt like a new Jane Birkin, inhabiting her physicality in a way that was almost dangerously uninhibited – and it earned her the first of three César Award nominations.
The following year she appeared in a Marivaux play directed by the influential Patrice Chéreau at his theater in Nanterre. Despite her trepidation, her performance was a success, and Birkin continued to appear on stage, alternating as usual between boulevard fare and Euripides.
