Jane Birkin Movies

First-time director Carine Tardieu's gentle and evocative coming-of-ager La Tête de Maman concerns Lulu (Chloë Couloud), an adolescent girl whose mother (Karin Viard) sits perpetually on the brink of illness and radiates unhappiness; she is resolutely unhappy with her husband, unhappy with the present state of her life. Concerned about her mom's emotional condition, Lulu discovers an old photograph that suggests the source of her dissatisfaction: a love affair gone sour with a young man who abandoned her, several years before Lulu's birth. To win back her mother's "smile," Lulu sets out to locate her mom's old boyfriend - now a middle-aged veterinarian - and bring him back to her mother's side. She also discovers, over the course of this mission, that her mom is now suffering from a terminal illness and sits at death's door. The character of Lulu narrates throughout, and periodically defers, in the midst of dilemmas, to her heroine, the model-turned-actress Jane Birkin (who appears from time to time, playing herself). ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

Chanteuse Jane Birkin pays homage to her former husband and musical collaborator, the late Serge Gainsbourg, with this special concert of his music, arranged in the manner of Northern African folk music. Recorded at Paris' Olympia Theatre in the spring of 2002, Jane Birkin: Arabesque includes the songs "La Chanson de Prévert," "L'Amour de Moi," "Ces Petits Riens," "Elisa," "Les Clés du Paradis," "Baby Alone in Babylone," "C'Est Comme Ca," and many more. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

James Ivory directed this drama adapted from Kaylie Jones's 1990 autobiographical novel in which the character Bill Willis is based on her father, James Jones, author of From Here to Eternity and A Thin Red Line. Ruth Prawer Jhabvala's screenplay about expatriate Americans in Paris during the 1960s/1970s offers a portrait of a normal family (as opposed to the dysfunctional families of The Ice Storm and many other 1990s films), seen from the point of view of daughter Channe. Her father is Bill Willis (Kris Kristofferson), a successful novelist and WWII veteran who's married to enthusiastic poker-player Marcella (Barbara Hershey). Divided like the sections of a novel, the story's first chapter is titled, "Billy," in which French orphan Benoit (Samuel Gruen) is brought to the Willis household for adoption, while his unmarried biological mother (Virginie Ledoyen) writes about him in her diary. Six-year-old Benoit has been shipped through so many orphanages and foster homes that he doesn't unpack his suitcase. Benoit's presence prompts the young Channe (Luisa Conlon) to turn to her protective Portuguese nanny Candida (Dominique Blanc). After Benoit becomes acclimated to his new family, he asks that his name be changed to Billy. In the second segment "Francis" a strong friendship develops between Channe (Leelee Sobieski) and fatherless Francis Fortescue (Anthony Roth Costanzo). Obsessed with opera, Francis lives with his expatriate British mother (Jane Birkin). The family's French idyll is disrupted when Bill Willis plans a return to the United States because he wants American doctors to treat his bad heart. The closing act "Daddy" takes place in North Carolina during the 1970s as Bill's health worsens, Billy (Jesse Bradford) grows up, and an alienated Channe seeks acceptance through sex. A bedridden Bill dictates his fiction to Channe, who transcribes tapes and types his manuscript pages. During intimate conversations about boys and sex, Willis helps his daughter find her footing on the path of life. This movie arrived only 14 weeks prior to the release of Terrence Malick's 1998 adaptation of the elder Jones' The Thin Red Line. Shown at 1998 film fests (Venice, Toronto). ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi

This French thriller begins with a flashback to a small village dance where a six-year-old girl is kidnapped and killed. Seventeen years later the murder remains unsolved. The girl's parents Caroline and Chris have gone on with separate lives Caroline remarried and had another daughter while Chris became an alcoholic. The two are thrown back together when each begin receiving strange messages that imply their daughter has returned from the dead for vengeance. They contact a police detective (the lover of Caroline's best friend) who finds the case intriguing and decides to reopen it. Unfortunately, as soon as he begins questioning the old suspects, people begin to die. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Two very different people become friends and partners in this nautical drama. Nikos (Stephen Rea) is a radio man working on a Greek freighter when he finds himself stranded in Hong Kong after the firm that owned his ship suddenly goes out of business. Nikos is already depressed over his recent breakup with his girlfriend, and this latest turn of events hardly makes him feel any better; he develops a dependence on opium as he works a variety of odd jobs trying to keep himself together while waiting for his ship to return to the sea. Li (Ling Chu) is a ten-year-old Chinese girl, cut off from her mother and father, who has a sampan and asks Nikos to help her get the boat ready for the water. Nikos doesn't much care for Li at first, but her youthful optimism and determination to succeed make an impression on him, and in time he leads her on a voyage to find the family she left behind years before. Director Marion Hansel's work on this film was honored with a Golden Palm nomination at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

In this fascinating and unconventional examination of the creative process, an artist near the end of his career finds new inspiration in a young model. Edouard Frenhofer (Michel Piccoli) is a famous and well-respected artist who lives in a comfortable estate in the French countryside. At the age of 60, Frenhofer considers his career as a painter to be over; he says he no longer feels any inspiration to create, and his last attempt at a major work, a nude study of his wife Liz (Jane Birkin) called "La Belle Noiseuse" (The Beautiful Nuisance), has sat unfinished for ten years. Just as Frenhofer has lost his enthusiasm for his art, he has also lost his passion for Liz; their relationship is polite and friendly, but without enthusiasm. When Frenhofer tells Nicolas (David Bursztein), his young protégé, that he no longer feels the desire to paint, Nicolas suggests that he needs a more inspiring subject, and he offers his girlfriend Marianne (Emmanuelle Béart) as a model. Frenhofer is taken with Marianne's beauty, and, with Liz's cool approval, he and Marianne spend several arduous sessions together, exchanging ideas and opinions as Frenhofer methodically attempts to create a final masterpiece. While La Belle Noiseuse runs 240 minutes, director Jacques Rivette also prepared an alternate version, La Belle Noiseuse - Divertimento, which runs 120 minutes, features a different framing sequence, and incorporates takes unused in the original cut. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Amnesty International produced this film, which features more than two dozen greats of French cinema making pleas for the lives of political prisoners around the world. Each filmmaker speaks passionately on behalf of an individual whose life has been warped by political intolerance, imprisonment, torture or murder, as the lives of those prisoners or sufferers are documented onscreen. A variety of directors contributed shorts with this theme, and the ways in which the appeals are dramatized differ markedly from one to the next. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Jane B. is London-born actress and recording star Jane Birkin. Agnes V. is Belgian filmmaker and "grandmother of the New Wave" Agnes Varda. Jane B. Par Agnes V is a cinematic recounting of Birkin's career, from her breakthrough appearance as one of the nude models in Blow-Up to her pinnacle as star of such films as La Femme de Ma Vie (1986). It is also the story of Birkin and Varda's close relationship, made stronger by their mutual admiration and their lifelong fascination with feminist themes. Viewers who prefer straightforward, objective documentaries rather than radicalized film techniques, may not appreciate Jane B. par Agnes V. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Jean-Luc Godard wrote, directed, and starred in this offbeat comedy. He appears as a bumbling cinematographer who drops film cannisters as he rushes to a screening, and he and others board a plane helmed by a pilot who is reading a self-help book about suicide. A philosophical narration accompanies scenes of recurring imagery. A man dancing with a woman, the vapor trail of a jet against the sky, and a dead man with a huge knife in his belly are used along with a glass door being slammed in a little girl's face. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

The personal tragedy of an alcoholic hemmed in by a domineering wife is the focus of this drama of hope lost and regained. Simon (Christophe Malavoy) is a solo violinist in an orchestra managed by his wife Laura (Jane Birkin). Haunted by specters of his own inadequacy, he loses his insecurities in drink, but that only results in rejection from his fellow musicians. They do not want him playing in the next major concert, which puts Laura in a bind. She fights for him to continue playing, not realizing that he may actually need time off. Simon begins to turn himself around when he meets a recovering alcoholic who introduces him to AA-style meetings and new friends. They understand his problem from their own perspective, yet he still has his increasingly belligerent wife and his future as a musician to handle. La Femme de ma vie was awarded Best First Film by the French Academy of Cinema. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi