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The actress Anna Karina, mainly known for her roles in the films of Jean-Luc Godard, died, Saturday December 14, in Paris from cancer, at the age of 79, her agent announced on Sunday AFP.
The French actress of Danish origin, brunette with a pale face devoured by large blue-gray eyes, had shot seven films with Jean-Luc Godard, then her companion, in the 1960s. She also had a career as a singer, notably alongside Serge Gainsbourg.
A libertarian ingenuous
“ Anna left yesterday in a Paris hospital for cancer. She was a free, unique artist, "her agent, Laurent Balandras, told AFP that the actress died with her husband, American director Dennis Berry.
His gaze was the gaze of the New Wave. It will remain so forever.
At Godard especially, but also Rivette or Visconti, Anna Karina radiated; it magnetized the whole world. Today, French cinema is an orphan. He loses one of his legends. pic.twitter.com/HpYeAqATQZ
“ Today, French cinema is an orphan. He's losing one of his legends, ”tweeted Culture Minister Franck Riester. The Cinémathèque française expressed its “ immense sadness ”. In the memory of moviegoers, Anna Karina will remain the image of a libertarian ingenuity, in particular with this cult reply: “ What can I do? I don't know what to do. .. ”( Pierrot le fou , 1965).
Idyll with Godard
From a childhood in Denmark tossed between a distant mother, a grandmother who died too early and an adored grandfather, she had kept her fragility on edge. Still a minor, she hitchhiked in Paris with the intention of becoming an actress. She was quickly spotted there to start a modeling career. Her real name Hanne Karin Bayer, she was renamed Anna Karina by the dressmaker Coco Chanel.
Godard spots her in an advertisement and offers her a small role in À bout de souffle with Jean Seberg and Jean-Paul Belmondo, which she declines. He will recall her a few months later for the main role of Le Petit soldat , a film about the Algerian war which will be banned.
On the set is born an idyll which will last several years. They are going to shoot seven films together among which Une femme est une femme (prize for the best interpretation at the Berlin festival in 1962), Vivre sa vie but also Pierrot le fou with Jean-Paul Belmondo.
Success as a singer
For ten years, Anna Karina does not stop shooting but she remains the favorite actress of Godard. Neither Chabrol nor Truffaut, the other directors of the New Wave, make it turn. “ I was Jean-Luc's wife. It probably made them a little scared, ”she said later.
As a singer, she had a great success in 1967 with Serge Gainsbourg's Sous le soleil exactly , a song taken from Pierre Koralnik's television film Anna . She also recorded an album in 1999 with Philippe Katerine entitled Une histoire d'amour .