'Birkin's diary entries ultimately expose the toxic reality behind one of the 20th century's most glamorous couples' Sunday Times
Jane Birkin - actor, singer, songwriter and model - may have shot to worldwide fame through her relationship with Serge Gainsbourg and their controversial hit 'Je t'aime ... moi non plus', but it would be her wide-ranging acting career and effortless Gallic cool that was to truly cement her legacy as an enduring international icon.
In Munkey Diaries, the first volume of Birkin's diaries, we're transported to the flamboyant world of London in the Swinging Sixties and Saint-Germain-des-Prés in the 1970s. There are intimate revelations about Jane's tumultuous life with her first husband, the composer John Barry, and her romantic and professional collaboration with Gainsbourg, as well as keen insights into her working life as an actor, singer and songwriter.
Far from an ordinary memoir, Munkey Diaries offers a unique window into the early life and loves of an extraordinary woman.
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Jane Birkin
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Jane Birkin - actor, singer, songwriter and model - attained international fame with her decade-long musical and personal relationship with Serge Gainsbourg, which featured their internationally controversial hit song 'Je t'aime...moi no plus'. She has also enjoyed a notable career as an actress in British and French cinema, including Blow-Up, Death on the Nile and Evil Under the Sun. And then there is the Birkin bag...
Throughout these years Jane has been keeping a diary:
"I've been keeping a journal since I was eleven, writing it to my confidante, the stuffed monkey won in a tombola: Munkey. He has slept by my side, shared my life with John, Serge, Jacques, and been witness to every joy and sadness. Before my children arrived wreaking havoc on my life, I left Munkey in Serge's arms, in the casket where he lay, like a pharaoh. My monkey, protecting him in the after-life.
As I re-read my journals, it seems obvious to me that we don't change. What I was twelve years old, I am today. Newspapers are obviously unfair, giving different versions of everything, but here, there is only my version. On principle, I haven't changed anything, and believe me, looking back, I would have preferred to have wiser reactions than I did . . ."
We thought we knew nearly everything about Jane Birkin. Her book not only re-creates the flamboyant era of Swinging London and Saint-Germain-des-Prés in the 1970s, it also lets us into the everyday life of an exceptional woman.