8/4/2019 Interviews: Jane Birkin and Anthony LaPaglia

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8November 2009

S AINT-TROPEZ

www.rivieratimes.com

small production, with a

budget of three and a half

million dollars, is being

recognised on the inter-

national stage. Perhaps all the

more so because the subject

matter deals with an

uncomfortable episode in

 Australia's recent history: the

murder of five young journ-

alists during the 1975 Indo-

youngest to the oldest on set,

you stop suffering from

shallow angst and you relax

about your success" - and his

 Australian upbringing. "Of

course you need a certain

amount of ego to be an actor

in the first place, to assume

people want to watch you but

growing up in Adelaide I was

always taught not to take

Brigitte Bardot, icon of

Saint-Tropez, is the

subject of an exhibition

of the work of painter Vincent

Roux and other artists, at the

Landowski Gallery, Boulogne-

Billancourt. The Years of

Innocence runs from 28thSeptember to 31st January,

and aspires to revive the myth

of BB as seen by major artists,

including Andy Warhol. Roux

himself was long associated

with Saint-Tropez as an artist

in residence, having also lived

in Venice and Aix. He was a

keen observer of nature's

change of moods, and quoted

Saint Francis of Assisi, who

said: "Every day is beautiful,

More than a trace of OzThe Hollywood actor Anthony LaPaglia gets

international at the Antipodean film festival

Think of Hollywood actor

 Anthony LaPaglia and the

word "Australian" may not

be the first that springs to mind.

Famous for playing Jack

Malone, the lead in the hit US

TV series   Without a Trace,LaPaglia is so well known as a

tough talking New Yorker these

days that most people have no

idea that he was born and bred

LaPaglia is clearly enjoyingthe relaxed, autumnal Saint-

Tropez scene when we meet

by the pool at the Hotel des

Lices on the penultimate day

of the festival. "This is my first

time in Saint-Tropez," he tells

me, "and it's so beautiful.”

Considering he's been on the

road for the past two months,

promoting his new film Balibo,

it's no wonder he’s

appreciating the festival’s

intimate, laidback vibe.Since Balibo’s premiere in

Melbourne in early August,

LaPaglia has been travelling

non-stop. After Saint-Tropez,

he’s headed to the London

Film Festival, where Balibo,

which LaPaglia produced and

also starred in, has been

shortlisted for Best Film.

For LaPaglia it's a consid-

erable achievement that this

nesian military campaign inEast Timor. LaPaglia explains

that the film has had such an

impact back home that the

government has reopened the

murder case after 35 years, a

move that jeopardises

 Australian trade relations with

Indonesia. "I hate saying stuff

like this but it really is the film

I am most proud of. And it’s

not that I want to be a political

creature in public," he adds,

"in that respect I see myself asthe Switzerland of the cele-

brity world, because I think

people should make their own

minds up and not listen to the

opinion of some actor."

This is typical LaPaglia:

unstarry and without an

overblown sense of his own

importance. The 50 year-old

credits his attitude to his age -

"when you’ve gone from the

myself too seriously," he

shrugs. "Australians are

more like the Brits in

the way that we can

laugh at ourselves. I

think it helps stop our

egos from getting tooout of control."

Love affair with EuropeLaPaglia also has

strong ties to Europe,

his mother was Dutch

and his father was a"fresh from the boat"

Italian immigrant. Al-

though he doesn't know

France as well as Italy,

his experience of the

festival and of Saint-

Tropez this time around

has been very favour-

able. "It's been won-

derful, everyone has

been so professional

and welcoming. Even thejournalists here have been

different: more knowledgeable

about cinema and interested in

the craft of film making. No one

has opened an interview by

asking me what my favourite

breakfast cereal is," he laughs. It

is, of course, my final question.

Before he rushes off to watch

Lucky Country, which is the final

screening in the festival’s Best

Film competition (Samson andDelilahultimately wins the prize),I suggest to LaPaglia that he

buys a bolthole in this part of

the world. "No really, I'm

thinking about it," he says

nodding seriously before

winking, "then I'd truly be a

citizen of the world.”

Balibo had its European premiere inLondon on October 20th and is ongeneral release in the UK this month.

Hannah Marshall

LaPaglia loved Saint-Tropez and the film festival

in South Australia.

Having been living in

the States for over thirty

years, he has no hint of

an Aussie accent

nowadays and he says,

without hesitating, thathe sees himself as an

  American. However,

this doesn't mean he

hasn’t retained a great

love for his childhood

home. So much so, thathe couldn’t have been

more delighted to

receive an invitation

from the organiser of

the Cinema des Anti-

pode to come to Saint-

Tropez and represent

 Australian film makers

on the festival's prize

committee.

 A whirlwind world tour

The third annual Drives of Saint-Tropez was blessed with fine weather after a major storm

Roux portrays BB in an age of innocencebut differently." Roux

said he captured the

'flashes' of nature,

which is constantly

renewing itself.

"I came to Saint-

Tropez to live, to

paint, and to be liked.

 And if one was never

sure of having suc-

ceeded, it was goodto receive a word from

the mayor: ‘My dear

 Vincent, I wish you a

very happy 1985, and

thank you for being in

Saint-Tropez and giv-ing part of yourself to

this place, its history

and its spirit.’ " IB

turned blue and the Bay of

Saint-Tropez returned to its

more typical postcard beauty.

It had been enough for the

Indian player Ranjan Bakhshi,

Captain of the New Delhi

team, to steady his driver onthe first tee for the rain to

stop.

The level of play has

improved each year, and it

was clear by the end

It had seemed inevitable

that the Drives of Saint-

Tropez golf tournament

would be cancelled after

several days of heavy rain.

 When the golf cart of the

organisers, Valentine Roy andPhilippe Soleillant, became

stuck in the mud a can-

cellation seemed certain.

But on the first day the skies

of the first day of thecompetition that the

real contest was

between two teams,

one led by Phil

Golding of the UK,

and the other led by

French champion

David Montesi.

The friendly com-

petition continued

off the course in

many of Saint-Tropez’ top venues.

Golfers take heart after weather swings

 After another night of heavy

rain the sun shone again on

the players and favoured the

home side.

By the end of the two-day

event David Montesi was able

to dethrone Phil Golding. Theoccasion will be long-

remembered by all those who

took part. IB

Mayor Jean-Pierre Tuveri tastes the offerings

of some of the top chefs at the event

Just published in German,the wonderful coffee-

table book about Brigitte Bardot.Schwarzkopf &

Schwarzkopf Verlag, Berlin. Publisher: Edward

Sczesnak, Text: Manfred Hobsch. ISBN 978-3-

89602-934-8 – 29.90 euros (D)

Co-organiser Philippe Soleillant

with trophy winner David Montesi

8/4/2019 Interviews: Jane Birkin and Anthony LaPaglia

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Birkin is anything but a plain Jane

It's a visibly weary Jane

Birkin who greets me

backstage at the Grimaldi

Forum after her concert on the9th October. It's 11pm and she

is perching on a plastic chair

under harsh dressing room

lights, massaging her throat

and sipping tea.

 After a two-hour perform-ance, in which the British-

born singer lit up the stage

with self-penned songs and

Gainsbourg classics, it is

hardly surprising that she's

exhausted. It also makes it all

the more impressive that, at

the age of 62, Birkin has

embarked on such a grueling

five-month tour.

“It's a town a day," she tells

me matter-of-factly, "actuallyit's a different country a day at

the moment. Last night I was

in Lisbon. I did the concert in

English, Portuguese and

French," she adds, as if the

travel and performance woul-

dn't be enough on their own.

The charming chanteuseHaving been in the music

industry for over 40 years,

you'd forgive Birkin if she

didn't have quite the same

enthusiasm for performing asshe used to. Yet watching her

captivate the crowd in

Monaco, chatting and

laughing with them as if

familiar friends, one senses

that she still enjoys wooing

her audience. For Birkin, a

revered natural beauty, has

certainly not lost any of her

seductiveness. This evening

she slinks around the stage in

6th October,

Birkin hadbeen at a

silent vigil in

Paris, which

she had org-

prison system in Britain and

taking me with him to

Battersea to visit poor, local

families. I suppose that Ialways had a secret longing to

be like him."

 We can make a differenceBelieving in the "butterfly

effect", Birkin encourages

people to conduct their livesas well as they can. She

suggests going to the AmnestyInternational website and

signing a petition or sending a

manifesto to the UN;

boycotting unethical pro-

ducts; even sitting down and

writing a letter to the Home

Office, just as she did all those

years ago.

Of course, Birkin has come

a long way since her ownletter writing days. In recent

years she has witnessed the

effects of civil war in Bosnia

and Rwanda and she will be

returning to Palestine in the

near future. She says that

even when it's too late to stop

something horrific from

happening, you should never

be afraid to say sorry or show

that you care. She paid for her

own trip to Rwanda and took

her father's ashes with her, toscatter into a grave. "People

always try to stop me from

going to these places but I

won't be bossed about," she

says, her huge eyes flashing.

You don’t have to be in

Birkin’s company long to see

that you’d be crazy to even try.

Enfants d’hiver and Jane Birkinau La Palace are out now.www.janebirkin.net

Gainsbourg wrote for his wife

and she fondly recounts

stories about him throughout.

Enfants d'hiver As half of the most famous

couple in France, Birkin was

adopted by the French long

ago. She has also been known

to refer to Paris as home, once

claiming that if she were blindshe would know the city door-

to-door. Yet she continues to

have a strong emotional

connection to the UK too.

Many of the tracks on her new

album, Enfants d'hiver (on which

she sings her own lyrics for the

first time) are a nostalgic

recounting of her childhood in

Britain. In particular, she has

drawn on her memories of

running around wild beacheson the Isle of White with her

brother and sister.

 Although Enfants d'hiver celebrates the freedom and

irresponsibility of being young,

Birkin admits that she was

only a girl herself when she

developed her powerful sense

of moral justice. "I remember

sending a letter to the Home

Office when I was very young,"

she laughs. "I got a reply back

saying that I was in a queueand that my letter was number

one million one hundred or

something like that. It didn't

matter; I felt that I was making

a difference. It was my father

[David Birkin, a captain in the

Royal Navy] who encouraged

me. He told me I could do

something. When I was

growing up he was

campaigning against the

stopped to make a heartfelt

speech about the situation inBurma before launching into

an emotional performance of

her song Aung San Suu Kyi.Singing Serge’s songs

 At moments like these, it's

easy to forget that this is the

same Jane Birkin who

famously spent the Seventies

partying in Parisian bars with

her husband, the legendary

musician Serge Gainsbourg,

and causing controversy with

sexually provocative songslike Je t’aime...moi non plus .

It's thanks to Gainsbourg,

who she met on the set of the

film Slogan in 1968, that Birkin

swapped her native London

for Paris Their marriage lasted

13-years and even after they

separated they remained

close until Gainsbourg's death

in 1991. The current show

features a number of songs

men's suit trousers, a white

shirt, waistcoat and tie - an

ensemble put together by her

stylish daughter, Lou Doillon.Spreading the word Although she may have been

prancing around the Forum

like a carefree adolescent, the

woman I meet backstage

twenty minutes after thecurtain call is in a reflective

and serious mood. Touring,

she explains, isn't only about

the music: it's a way for her to

spread the

word, to pu-

blicise hu-

man rights

issues, to tri-

gger people

into taking

action.Illustrating

her point, she

talks at len-

gth about her

recent trip to Tokyo, one of the

first stops on the current tour.

During her flying visit she

attended a meeting with

 Amnesty International and was

introduced to Japan's new

Minister for Social Affairs,

Mizuho Fukushima, and

Minister for Justice, KeikoChiba: two female politicians

pushing for radical reform in a

conservative and patriarchal

society.

 With the state of the world

now on the agenda, Birkin sits

forward, becomes animated,

forgets about her sore throat.

It is clear what drives her

these days.

Only earlier that week, on the

anised to protest against the

Burmese military junta and

the imprisonment of Aung

San Suu Kyi. She was joined

by, among others, fellow

actresses Catherine Deneuve

and Charlotte Rampling. "It

was crazy," she rolls her eyes,

"the logistics of trying to lookafter all these celebrities."

Logistics aside, Birkin will

never be afraid to play the

fame card in the name of a

worthy cause and, unlike

many movie and music stars,

charitable work is not

something she does on the

side of her career.

Indeed, halfway through her

show at the Grimaldi she

Birkin is the ultimate chanteuse (left) but human

rights activism drives her to tour as much as music

Hannah Marshall exclusively interviews the chanteuse after her show in Monaco