(Paris) Stars and many anonymous people came to say a last farewell to Jane Birkin, “ex-fan of the sixties” as she sang, on Monday, on the occasion of the funeral of the favorite Englishwoman of the French, in the Saint-Roch church, in the center of Paris.
The ceremony took place in the presence of his daughters, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Lou Doillon who carried the coffin inside, but also music and cinema celebrities, such as Carole Bouquet, Catherine Deneuve, Etienne Daho, Yvan Attal, Benjamin Biolay, Chiara Mastroianni or Isabelle Huppert, welcomed by the artist’s manager.
The French President’s wife, Brigitte Macron, and the Minister of Culture, Rima Abdul Malak, also took their places in the church, whose square was covered with flowers, testifying to the national turmoil aroused by the announcement of the disappearance of the singer and actress, Sunday July 16 at 76 years old.
“Thank you for loving us so much. […] I see your souls in pain. I can already see the void she leaves us. She’s my mom, our mom. Your mom, ”read Charlotte Gainsbourg, very moved.
Lou Doillon, also marked by emotion, recounted many moments of life shared with her mother, before concluding by saying: “Mom, thank you for all these adventures. Thank you for not being ordinary, reasonable and docile. This very peaceful and reasoned world of tomorrow is already annoying me”.
At the end of the hour-and-a-half-long ceremony, the coffin was carried to the sound of La Javanaise, with several minutes of loud applause.
Access to the church was reserved for family and friends, but a giant screen was installed nearby to “associate the general public” allowing more than 1,500 people, according to an AFP journalist, to gather.
On the big screen was shown a black and white portrait of Jane Birkin, on which she appears with a broad smile. Many titles she performed, such as And when well, were broadcast and punctuated with applause.
This Londoner, naturalized French but remained English in the collective unconscious with her delicious accent mistakes, had been part of the landscape for more than half a century and her meeting with Serge Gainsbourg, singer as popular as controversial, on the set of a film in the late 1960s.
Monday morning, among the crowd present at the tribute, Jean-Baptiste came from Burgundy (Central-Eastern France) with a sign bearing the messages “Thank you Jane Birkin” and “Jane Forever”.
“Without her, we lack the light, I loved this committed woman artist capable of empathy for essential causes”, says this 66-year-old former teacher, who did not wish to give his name.
“Gone to join your Serge, Romy and all the others… One more angel… Thank you Thank you, my Jane!” “, reacted in a message sent Monday to AFP Alain Delon, who had filmed with her in La Piscine by Jacques Deray.
Celebrities and political figures are not the only ones to have been affected by his death. Since the artist was discovered lifeless at her Parisian home by her life assistant, anonymous fans have flocked, sometimes with a bouquet of flowers in hand, to 5 bis rue Verneuil (7th arrondissement of Paris, center). Place where she resided with Serge Gainsbourg, when the couple embodied the alliance of chic and shock, escorted by the scent of scandal of their famous duet title “Je t’aime… moi non plus”.
Flowers were also hung on the picket fence around the house the Pool actress owned in Brittany, in northwestern France.
His disappearance also moved internationally.
“My dearest Jane is gone”, had posted on social networks Marianne Faithfull, another English artist, revealed by the “Swinging London” of the 60s.
“Jane Birkin was a beautiful and unique woman,” reacted American rock star Iggy Pop.
The disappearance of the singer Dessous chic, who died of natural causes according to those around her, occurred when Jane Birkin was planning to go back on stage after multiple health problems (leukemia, stroke).
