Charlotte Lucy Gainsbourg (French:[ʃaʁlɔtɡɛ̃zbuʁ]ⓘ; born 21 July 1971) is a French and British actress and singer. She is the daughter of English actress and singerJane Birkin and French singerSerge Gainsbourg. After making her musical debut with her father on the song "Lemon Incest" at the age of 12,[2][3] she released an album with her father at the age of 15. More than 20 years passed before Gainsbourg released albums as an adult (5:55,IRM,Stage Whisper andRest) to commercial and critical success. She has acted in many films, including collaborations withLars von Trier, and received twoCésar Awards andCannes Film Festival's Best Actress Award, among many nominations.
Gainsbourg was born on 21 July 1971[4] in theMarylebone area of Central London. Her mother was English actress and singerJane Birkin. Her father wasJewish French musicianSerge Gainsbourg.[5][6] Gainsbourg was born at the height of her parents' fame; they had made headlines three years earlier with the sexually explicit song "Je t'aime... moi non plus" and by that point had become notorious for their turbulent relationship and multiple artistic collaborations.[7][8] As a result, her childhood was well publicised.[1]
At birth, she received the surname of Gainsbourg, her father's stage name, but at the age of 18, she changed her surname toGinsburg, her father's legal surname.[1] She has continued to use the Gainsbourg name professionally.
Gainsbourg was raised in Paris alongside her half-sister,Kate Barry, from her mother's marriage to composerJohn Barry. Kate Barry died in 2013 after falling out of a window. According toBirkin, both parents were somewhat neglectful,[15] often spending their nights going out to parties and drinking.[16] She has a young brother, Lucien "Lulu" Gainsbourg, born in 1986 from her father's relationship withBambou. On her father's side, she also had two older siblings born from his second marriage to Françoise-Antoinette "Béatrice" Pancrazzi.
By 1980, her parents' relationship had dissolved and her mother left her father for the directorJacques Doillon. Her half-sisterLou Doillon was born in 1982 as a result of the union. Gainsbourg would go on to work with her stepfather in the filmThe Temptation of Isabelle in 1985 and later inAmoureuse in 1992, which also starred her future partnerYvan Attal.
In 1987, she was the target of a bungled kidnapping.[17]
After her parents separated, Gainsbourg's father descended into alcoholism, eventually dying of aheart attack in 1991. Gainsbourg remained devoted to preserving his legacy and preserved his home, saying she hoped to eventually turn it into a museum.Maison Gainsbourg opened in 2023.[18][19]
Gainsbourg grew up on film sets, as both of her parents were involved in the film industry. She stated that her mother had pushed her into acting, believing that she wanted to be an actress and encouraging her to make her motion picture debut playingCatherine Deneuve's daughter in the filmParoles et Musique (1984).[20]
In 1986, Gainsbourg won aCésar Award for "Most Promising Actress" forAn Impudent Girl. That same year Gainsbourg appeared in the filmCharlotte for Ever about a man who develops incestuous desires for his teenage daughter after his wife dies. Written and directed by Gainsbourg's fatherSerge Gainsbourg, who also took the role of Gainsbourg's father on screen, the film heightened the controversy that had resulted from Gainsbourg's debut singleLemon Incest, which had similar themes and also was created and sung with her fatherSerge, causing press speculation that the material was autobiographical.[21][2]
Gainsbourg worked with von Trier once again on his 2013 filmNymphomaniac, in which she played the title role. The 5½-hour film depicts the life of a sex addict from youth to middle age. Regarding her reservations about the part, Gainsbourg commented, "The sex scenes weren't so hard. For me, it was all the masochistic scenes. Those were embarrassing and, yes, a little humiliating."[26]In 2014, she starred inThree Hearts andÉric Toledano and Olivier Nakache's filmSamba, for which she was nominated for aLumière Award for Best Actress. She then played Dr. Catherine Marceaux inIndependence Day: Resurgence, sequel of the 1996 filmIndependence Day. In 2017, she starred alongsideMichael Fassbender andRebecca Ferguson in thecrime thriller filmThe Snowman. In 2020, she had a cameo role playing herself in the first episode of the fourth season ofCall My Agent!.
Gainsbourg atWebster Hall, New York City, April 2010
Gainsbourg made her musical debut on the controversial song "Lemon Incest" in 1984.[27][2] Sung by Gainsbourg and her fatherSerge, the lyrics implied a pedophiliac relationship between a father and daughter and led people to believe that the material was autobiographical.[28] Gainsbourg, who was 13 at the time of the song's release, later stated that she had just begun boarding school and was therefore unaware of the controversy regarding the song until she was much older.
In 1986, she released her debut albumCharlotte for Ever, which was produced by her father. In 2000, Gainsbourg was featured on theMadonna albumMusic on the track "What It Feels Like for a Girl". The lengthy spoken introduction by Gainsbourg is taken from the filmThe Cement Garden, which inspired the title of the song. The track was further remixed for a single version in 2001, with Gainsbourg'sThe Cement Garden speech repeated during the song.
In 2004, she sang a duet with French pop starÉtienne Daho on his single "If". In 2006, Gainsbourg released her second album5:55 to critical acclaim and commercial success, reaching the top spot on the French charts and achieving platinum status in that country. In the UK, the album was moderately successful, reaching No. 78. (The single "The Songs That We Sing" only achieved No. 129.) Gainsbourg attributed the twenty-year break between her debut album and5:55 to her father's death and her reluctance to explore a musical career without him.[30]
In late 2009, Gainsbourg released her third studio album,IRM,[31] which was produced byBeck.[32][33] One of the influential factors in the album's creative process was her time spent filmingAntichrist.[34] Gainsbourg's head injury in 2007 influenced the title of the album "IRM", an abbreviation for the French translation ofmagnetic resonance imaging (MRI). During her brain scan, she began to think about music. "When I was inside that machine," she said, "it was an escape to think about music. It's rhythm. It was very chaotic."[35]
Her song "Heaven Can Wait" was chosen as theStarbucksiTunes Pick of the Week on 2 March 2010.[36] Her song "Trick Pony" appeared at the beginning of theGrey's Anatomy episode "Perfect Little Accident" (Season 6, Episode 16/airdate: 25 February 2010), is featured on theFIFA 11 soundtrack,[37] was used in the 2012 Teleflora Super Bowl advertisement featuringsupermodelAdriana Lima[38] and can be heard in episode 2 ("Wild Thing") of theAmazon Prime Video television seriesMy Lady Jane (2024).[39]
In 2011, Gainsbourg released the double albumStage Whisper, a collection of unreleased songs fromIRM and live tracks.[40] In 2013, Gainsbourg released acover version of the song "Hey Joe", recorded with Beck, for the soundtrack of the filmNymphomaniac, in which she was the lead actress. Her music influenced artists such asTove Lo, who cited the simplicity and quirky lyrical content of Charlotte'sIRM as the main inspiration behind her career in music and said that it "opened a new world" for her as regards sound,[41] and she performed a bilingual cover of "The Maiden's Prayer" in French and English as the opening tune for the Anglo-French crime thriller television serialThe Tunnel.
Since 2014, Gainsbourg has been supporting theHear the World Foundation asambassador. In her role she advocates for equal opportunities and a better quality of life for people withhearing loss. She was featured in the Hear the World Calendar 2014, the proceeds of which were to benefit the foundation's projects.[42]
Gainsbourg worked for four years, mainly in New York,[43] with producerSebastian Akchoté (known as SebastiAn) on her fifth studio album, titledRest.Rest is a portrayal of her feelings after the deaths of her father Serge Gainsbourg and her half-sisterKate Barry, with the theme ofalcohol addiction. About the album, she said, "The album took a different direction. I wanted to express [my grief] not only with sadness but with anger."[43] The lyrics are in English and French.[43] In September 2017, music videos for the singles "Rest" and "Deadly Valentine" were released, both are directed by Gainsbourg herself.[44] The music videos feature her children.[43] The album was released on 17 November 2017.[45] A companion EP forRest was released the following year, titledTake 2.[46] Gainsbourg additionally featured on Akchoté's second studio albumThirst in November 2019.[47]
Throughout late November 2020, Gainsbourg posted images to social media of her in the recording studio with Irish-Scottish music producer Salvador Navarrete, known better by his stage nameSega Bodega. Navarrete described the sessions as "sounding beautiful".[48] It was unveiled in September 2021 that Gainsbourg would appear on Navarrete's second studio album,Romeo, which was released on 12 November 2021.[49] It is expected that more music between the two will be released.
Gainsbourg's longtime partner is French-Israeli actor/directorYvan Attal whom she met on the set of the 1991 filmAux yeux du monde [fr].[50] Gainsbourg and Attal are not married, and Gainsbourg has attributed her reluctance to her parents never marrying. Attal publicly proposed to Gainsbourg on 19 June 2013, during an awards ceremony when he received the FrenchNational Order of Merit.[51] In April 2014, Attal confirmed that they were still unmarried, with no plans to marry.[52] Together they have three children, born in 1996, 2002, and 2011.[53][54] Their oldest,Ben Attal [fr], is also an actor, who starred in the filmThe Accusation (2021). Gainsbourg identifies as Jewish and celebrates Jewish holidays with her partner's family.[13]
Gainsbourg was born in London, but she spent most of her life in Paris until the death of her sisterKate Barry. In 2013, she and her family relocated to New York City.[55] They returned to Paris in 2020.[56] She is proud of both her nationalities.[1]
On 5 September 2007, Gainsbourg underwent surgery for acerebral hemorrhage. She had been experiencing headaches since awaterskiing accident in the United States several weeks earlier.[57]
^abcdMahdawi, Arwa (26 October 2019)."Charlotte Gainsbourg: 'Everything now is so politically correct. So boring'".The Guardian.Archived from the original on 27 October 2021. Retrieved27 October 2021.I am very proud of my British passport. It is so stupid. It's a little booklet, but I cherish it. Maybe it's my mother, who transmitted something, some pride in that nationality.
^Spencer, Neil (22 May 2005)."The 10 most x-rated records".Observer Music Monthly. London: Guardian Newspapers.Archived from the original on 13 February 2010. Retrieved3 August 2010.
^Dallach, Christoph (30 October 2006)."Melodien für Millionen" [Melodies for Millions].Der Spiegel (in German).Archived from the original on 7 May 2016. Retrieved28 April 2020.
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