Anna Karina

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For the novel, see Anna Karenina. For the 1972 song, see Jackie (Jackie DeShannon album).
Anna Karina
200px
Anna Karina in February 1968
Born Hanne Karin Bayer
(1940-09-22)22 September 1940
Solbjerg, Denmark
Died Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist.
Paris, France
Occupation Actress, film director, writer, singer
Years active 1959–2019
Spouse(s) Jean-Luc Godard
(m. 1961; div. 1965)
Pierre Fabre
(m. 1968; div. 1974)
Daniel Duval
(m. 1978; div. 1981)
Dennis Berry
(m. 1982; her death 2019)

Anna Karina (born Hanne Karin Bayer,[1] 22 September 1940 – 14 December 2019)[2] was a Danish-French film actress, director, writer, and singer. She rose to prominence as French New Wave director Jean-Luc Godard's muse in the 1960s,[3] performing in several of his films, including The Little Soldier, A Woman Is a Woman, My Life to Live, Bande à part (Band of Outsiders), Pierrot le Fou and Alphaville. For her performance in A Woman Is a Woman, Karina won the Silver Bear Award for Best Actress at the Berlin Film Festival.[4]

In 1972, Karina set up a production company for her directorial debut, Vivre ensemble (1973), which screened in the Critics' Week lineup at the 26th Cannes Film Festival.[5] She also directed the French-Canadian film Victoria (2008). In addition to her work in cinema, she worked as a singer, and wrote several novels in French.[6]

Karina is widely considered an icon of 1960s cinema.[7][8] The New York Times described her as "one of the screen's great beauties and an enduring symbol of the French New Wave."[9]

Early life

Karina's mother was a dress shop owner and her father left the family a year after she was born. She lived with her maternal grandparents for three years, until she was four. She spent the next four years in foster care before returning to live with her mother. She has described her childhood as "terribly wanting to be loved", and as a child she made numerous attempts to run away from home.[10]

She began her career in Denmark, where she sang in cabarets and worked as a model playing in commercials. At age 14, she appeared in a Danish short film by Ib Schmedes, which won a prize at Cannes.[11] In 1958, after a row with her mother, she hitchhiked to Paris.[11]

Career

Les Deux Magots, the café where Anna Karina was discovered

Modeling

Karina was 17 when she arrived in Paris. Poor and unable to speak French, she lived on the streets. One day while sitting at the café Les Deux Magots[12] she was approached by a woman from an advertisement agency who asked her to do some photos. She began to work as a model and eventually became successful, posing for several magazines, including Elle,[13] and meeting Pierre Cardin and Coco Chanel.[14] Karina said that Chanel helped her devise her professional name, Anna Karina.[15]

Film

Jean-Luc Godard, then a film critic for Cahiers du cinéma, first saw Karina in a series of Palmolive ads in which she posed in bathtubs.[16] He was casting his debut feature film, Breathless (À bout de souffle, 1960), and offered her a small part in it, but she refused when he mentioned that there would be a nude scene. When Godard questioned her refusal, mentioning her apparent nudity in the Palmolive ads, she is said to have replied, "Are you mad? I was wearing a bathing suit in those ads—the soapsuds went up to my neck. It was in your mind that I was undressed."[17]

In the end, the character Godard reserved for Karina did not appear in the film.[18] Godard offered her a role in The Little Soldier (Le Petit Soldat, not released until 1963). Karina, then still under 21, had to persuade her estranged mother to sign the contract for her.[19]

Karina won the Best Actress Award at the Berlin Film Festival in 1961 for her performance as Angela in A Woman Is a Woman (Une femme est une femme).[4] Her career continued to flourish thereafter,[16] as she appeared in dozens of films through the 1960s, including Godard's Band of Outsiders (Bande à part, 1964), The Nun (La Religieuse, 1966), directed by Jacques Rivette, Luchino Visconti's The Stranger (Lo straniero, 1967), the George Cukor/Joseph Strick collaboration Justine (1969), and Tony Richardson's Laughter in the Dark (1969). She continued to work steadily into the 1970s, with roles in Christian de Chalonge's The Wedding Ring (L'Alliance, 1971), Andre Delvaux's Rendezvous at Bray (Rendez-vous à Bray, also 1971), The Salzburg Connection (1972), and Franco Brusati's Bread and Chocolate (Pane e cioccolata, 1973).

File:Anna Karina July 1977.jpg
Karina in 1977

In 1972, she set up a production company, Raska, for her directorial debut, Vivre ensemble (1973), in which she also acted. The film screened in the Critics’ Week lineup at the 26th Cannes Film Festival.[5]

She starred in Rainer Werner Fassbinder's Chinese Roulette (Chinesisches Roulette, 1976); Fassbinder allegedly wrote the film for her and her partner at the time, Ulli Lommel.[20] She later wrote and acted in Last Song (1987) and later appeared in Up, Down, Fragile (Haut, Bas, Fragile, 1995), directed by Jacques Rivette, and sang in The Truth About Charlie (2002), a remake of the film Charade (1963).[21]

Karina wrote, directed and starred in Victoria (2008), a musical road movie filmed in Montreal and Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean, Quebec. Richard Kuipers praised it in Variety as "a pleasant gambol through the backwoods of Quebec."[22]

Music

Karina maintained a singing career.[23] At the end of the 1960s, she scored a major hit with "Sous le soleil exactement" and "Roller Girl" by Serge Gainsbourg. Both songs are from the TV musical comedy Anna (1967), by the film director Pierre Koralnik, in which she sings seven songs alongside Gainsbourg and Jean-Claude Brialy. Karina subsequently recorded an album, Une histoire d'amour, with Philippe Katerine, which was followed by a concert tour. In 2005, she released Chansons de films, a collection of songs sung in movies.

Writing

Karina wrote four novels: Vivre ensemble (1973), Golden City (1983), On n'achète pas le soleil (1988), and Jusqu'au bout du hasard (1998).[6]

Personal life

File:A-Karina-1994-villandraut.jpg
Karina in 1994

In 1961, after working together on Le Petit Soldat, Karina and Godard married; The Independent described them as "one of the most celebrated pairings of the 1960s."[23] During their marriage, they made seven feature films together.[23] A writer for Filmmaker magazine called their work "arguably the most influential body of work in the history of cinema."[24]

Despite the critical success, their relationship behind the scenes was described as tumultuous; they fought on film sets, Karina fell ill several times, and Godard was often absent without explanation.[16][12][25] The couple divorced in 1965.[12] Karina said they no longer spoke to each other.[26] She described the relationship in an interview with W magazine:

It was all very exciting from the beginning. Of course we have a great love story and all that, but we were so different. He was 10 years older than me. He was very strange. He would go away and come back three weeks later ... It was difficult, and I was a young girl, not even 21—at the time Godard was 30. I know he didn't mean to hurt me, but he did. He was never there, he was never coming back, and I never knew where he was. He drove me a bit crazy.[26]

After divorcing Godard, Karina remarried several times; she was married to French actors Pierre Fabre from 1968 to 1974 and Daniel Duval from 1978 to 1981, and to American film director Dennis Berry from 1982 until her death.[12][27]

Karina died from cancer on 14 December 2019 at a hospital in Paris.[28]

Legacy

Karina is widely considered an icon of 1960s cinema[7] as well as a style icon.[8][29] The Guardian described her as an "effervescent free spirit of the French new wave."[12] The New York Times described her style as looking like a schoolgirl in her acting roles, regardless whether she was playing a streetwalker or a terrorist. Her signature look was her dark hair, wispy bangs, heavy eyeliner and school uniform of sailor-uniform tops, knee socks, plaid headwear such as berets and boaters.[30] Refinery29 wrote that "her 60s French girl style – think sailor dresses, tartan, long socks, and hats – and mesmerizing doe-eyed beauty mean she continues to be referenced today by the super-stylish."[8]

Selected filmography

Karina appeared in:[31]

Year Title Role Director
1960 The Little Soldier Veronica Dreyer Jean-Luc Godard
A Woman Is a Woman Angela Récamier Jean-Luc Godard
Tonight or Never Valérie Michel Deville
1961 Cléo from 5 to 7 (episode "Les fiancés du pont Macdonald") The Fiancée Agnès Varda
Sun in Your Eyes Dagmar Jacques Bourdon
She'll Have to Go Toni Robert Asher
1962 My Life to Live Nana Jean-Luc Godard
Three Fables of Love (episode "Le corbeau et le renard") Colombe Hervé Bromberger
Shéhérazade Shéhérazade Pierre Gaspard-Huit
1963 Sweet and Sour Ginette Jacques Baratier
Un mari à un prix fixe Béatrice Reinhoff Claude de Givray
1964 Circle of Love Rose / The Chambermaid Roger Vadim
Band of Outsiders Odile Jean-Luc Godard
All About Loving Hélène Jean Aurel
The Thief of Tibidabo Maria Maurice Ronet
The Camp Followers Elenitza Valerio Zurlini
1965 Pierrot le fou Marianne Renoir Jean-Luc Godard
Alphaville Natascha von Braun Jean-Luc Godard
1966 The Nun Suzanne Simonin Jacques Rivette
Made in U.S.A. Paula Nelson Jean-Luc Godard
The Oldest Profession (episode "Anticipation") Natasha / Eleanor Romeovich, Hostess 703 Jean-Luc Godard
1967 The Stranger Marie Cardona Luchino Visconti
Anna Anna Pierre Koralnik
Zärtliche Haie Elena / Costa Michel Deville
Lamiel Lamiel Jean Aurel
1968 The Magus Anne Guy Green
Before Winter Comes Maria J. Lee Thompson
Man on Horseback Elisabeth Kohlhaas Volker Schlöndorff
1969 Justine Melissa George Cukor and Joseph Strick
Laughter in the Dark Margot Tony Richardson
The Time to Die The Young Girl André Farwagi
1970 The Time to Die The Unnamed Woman André Farwagi
The Wedding Ring Jeanne Christian de Chalonge
1971 Rendezvous at Bray She (The Waitress) André Delvaux
Carlos Clara Hans W. Geißendörfer
1972 The Salzburg Connection Anna Bryant Lee H. Katzin
Vivre ensemble Julie Anderson Anna Karina
1973 Morel's Invention Faustine Emidio Greco
Bread and Chocolate Elena Franco Brusati
1975 Scrambled Eggs Clara Dutilleul Joël Santoni
1976 The Musician Killer Louise Benoît Jacquot
Chinese Roulette Irene Cartis Rainer Werner Fassbinder
1978 Surprise Sock Nathalie Jean-François Davy
Just like Home Anna Márta Mészáros
1979 The Story of a Mother Christine Olsen Claus Weeke
1980 Charlotte, Tell Your Mother that I Love Her Stéphane Aly Borgini
1983 Vincent's Friend Eleonore Pierre Granier-Deferre
1984 Ave Maria Berthe Granjeux Jacques Richard
1985 Treasure Island The Mother Raoul Ruiz
1987 Last Song Susan Dennis Berry
Last Summer in Tangiers Myrrha, a cabaret singer Alexandre Arcady
Cayenne Palace Lola Alain Maline
The Abyss Catherine André Delvaux
1990 The Man Who Wanted to Be Guilty Edith Ole Roos
1994 Up, Down, Fragile Sarah Jacques Rivette
1996 Chloé Katia Dennis Berry
2002 The Truth About Charlie Karina Jonathan Demme
2003 I, Cesar Gloria Richard Berry
2008 Victoria Victoria Anna Karina

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ "Anna Karina, légendaire actrice de la Nouvelle Vague, est morte" www.lemonde.fr. Retrieved 15 December 2019
  3. ↑ Cowie, Peter (2005) Revolution!: The Explosion of World Cinema in the Sixties Macmillan, p. 62 ISBN 0-571-21135-6
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Anna Karina biography" newwavefilm.com. Retrieved Feb 2010
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Colin MacCabe, Godard: A Portrait of the Artist at Seventy. (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2003). p. 125.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 MacCabe, 126.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[permanent dead link]
  14. ↑ MacCabe, 126–7.
  15. ↑ MacCabe, 127.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Karina, Anna (2003). DVD extra. Band of Outsiders. DVD. "Anna Karina".
  18. ↑ MacCabe, 124–5.
  19. ↑ MacCabe, 127–8.
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 23.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  25. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  27. ↑ Anna Karina, légendaire actrice de la Nouvelle Vague, est morte Le Monde, 2019-12-15.
  28. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  29. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  30. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  31. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

Further reading

  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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