Presented at the Cannes Film Festival in 2021, Jane by Charlotte resonates even more profoundly in the aftermath of Jane Birkin's passing in July 2023. This intimate and deeply personal documentary directed by Charlotte Gainsbourg, avoids the pitfalls of voyeurism or sensationalism. Gainsbourg explores her relationship not only with her famous mother but also, by extension, with her own children. Armed with a digital camera, still camera, or a 16mm Bolex camera, the director immortalizes her mother's aging body, acknowledging her illness. In this endeavor, she embraces Agnès Varda's wisdom, as quoted by Birkin in the documentary, that "you have to capture."

It is only towards the end of the film that the losses impacting both mother and daughter are truly addressed. Serge Gainsbourg, Charlotte's father, appears on the screen through family films shot on Super 8. The death of Birkin's first daughter, born of her union with John Barry, is delicately and subtly evoked. Following this subtle emotional crescendo, the final embrace on the beach between Jane and Charlotte, filmed from behind as if they were two anonymous women, becomes even more poignant.
 

Jean-Philippe Desrochers
Critic