Jane Birkin and religion: "I love you… me not anymore”
The recently deceased British-French actress and singer grew up Anglican, but confessed that she once considered converting to Judaism; except she felt she had "never had faith"
Jane Birkin, the iconic 1970’s era British-French singer and actress who died July 16 at age 76, publicly declared more than a decade ago that she once considered converting to Judaism.
"When I was with Serge, I wanted to be Jewish for romantic reasons," the Anglican-raised Birkin said, referring to Serge Gainsbourg, the French singer-songwriter and director who was her partner from 1968-1980.
"Rabbi Williams [of the Rue Copernic Synagogue in Paris] told me it wasn't a good reason," she explained in a 2012 interview with Israel Magazine.
Indeed, converting to Judaism was extremely rare and complicated in France at the time. But Birkin humorously explained how she had pondered the possibility with Gainsbourg before the Paris rabbi eventually discouraged her.
"Serge said to me: 'Anyway, don't expect me to teach you any rules: I don't know them! I've never been to a bar mitzvah, and I'm so Jewish that I didn't even have to be circumcised: I was born that way!' I insisted a little - despite the fact that his parents didn't practice - and Serge told me: 'Even if you had a blood transfusion, you wouldn't be Jewish!' Then I stopped, feeling offended," she recalled.
A Church of England upbringing and education
Birkin did not talk much about religion, but on a number of occasions she did allude to her being raised in the Anglican faith. From the age of 12, the rebellious teenager attended an Anglican boarding school on the Isle of Wight, in the south of England.
"I was in a girls' enclave, with strict rules and a heavy dose of religion," she recalled in a 2019 interview with Le Temps.
Did this setting affect her personal beliefs?
"I never seem to have had faith, but when I was at convent school, it was my only way out: I'd spend hours in the chapel, hiding things in a little cubby hole under the cross," she wrote in 2020 for the women's weekly Marie Claire.
Tainted by scandal, the success surrounding the start of her dazzling musical career aroused the ire of the world's highest religious authorities. The title track of Je t'aime, moi non plus (“I love you… me not anymore”, the album that she and Gainsbourg released in 1969, featured her – then just 22 years old – breathing heavily and making erotic moans. The song, which was banned in many countries, was even condemned by the Vatican.
"When you write lyrics about such subjects, you create obscenity. (The song) confirms the level of stupidity to which the current type of mass culture has led us," said a scathing article in L'Osservatore Romano.
Passing on the faith
In an interview last year with Le Journal du Dimanche, she was asked about her approach to religious questions with her three daughters - photographer Kate Berry, actress Charlotte Gainsbourg, and composer/model Lou Doillon.
"I didn't want to give them any religious instruction,” she said. “That was much to the chagrin of my mother, who was so excited when Lou was born, because Jacques was Protestant," she said referring to Jacques Doillon, the French filmmaker who was her daughter’s father.
Jane Birkin, who lived most of her life in Paris, also died in the French capital. The date and details of her funeral are pending at this time. The funeral of her daughter Kate, who died in 2013 at the age of 46, was held at Saint-Roch Catholic Church in Paris, known as the "artists' parish".