Anna Karina

Anna Karina (born Hanne Karin Blarke Bayer; was a Danish and French film actress, director, writer, model, and singer. She was an early collaborator of French New Wave director Jean-Luc Godard, her first husband, performing in several of his films, including The Little Soldier, A Woman Is a Woman (1961), My Life to Live (1962), (Band of Outsiders; 1964), (1965), and Alphaville (1965). For her performance in A Woman Is a Woman, Karina won the Silver Bear Award for Best Actress at the Berlin Film Festival.

In 1972, Karina set up a production company for Vivre ensemble (1973), her directorial debut, which screened in the Critics' Week lineup at the 26th Cannes Film Festival. She also directed the French-Canadian film Victoria (2008). In addition to her work in cinema, she worked as a singer and wrote several novels. The New York Times described her as "one of the screen's great beauties and an enduring symbol of the French New Wave".

Early life Hanne Karin Blarke Bayer during the German occupation of the Second World War. Her mother was a dress shop owner and her father was a ship captain who left the family a year after she was born. As a child, her mother belittled her appearance, and told her that her eyes and forehead were too big.

In the summer of 1958, aged 17, Karina arrived in Paris. and meeting Pierre Cardin and Coco Chanel. Karina has said that when she met Chanel on the set of the Elle photoshoot, Chanel told her: "I believe you want to be an actress… You need to learn French. What's your name little girl?" "Hanne Karin Bayer." Karina replied. And Chanel said: "No: Anna Karina – call yourself that." She also appeared in commercials for products such as Coca-Cola, Pepsodent, and Palmolive. He was casting his debut feature film Breathless (À bout de souffle, 1960), and offered her a small part in it, but she refused when he mentioned that there would be a nude scene. In the end, the character Godard reserved for Karina did not appear in the film. Godard offered her a role in The Little Soldier (, not released until 1963) which concerns contentious French actions during the Algerian War. She played a pro-Algerian activist. Karina, then still under 21, had to persuade her estranged mother to sign the contract for her. The film was immediately controversial, outlawed from French theaters for its content referencing the Algerian War.

After the filming of The Little Soldier, Godard wanted Karina to give up acting, but when Michel Deville offered her the leading role in his next movie, Tonight or Never (Ce soir ou jamais), she accepted immediately, and despite his displeasure Godard drove her to the studio each morning; it was after seeing the rushes of Deville's movie, in which she played an ambitious actress and had to learn her lines before shooting, that he decided to cast her in his own next movie, A Woman Is a Woman (Une femme est une femme, 1961).

As Angela in A Woman Is a Woman, Karina's role was as an unattached striptease dancer who nevertheless wishes to have a child and daydreams about appearing in MGM musicals. Her school-girl costume emulated Leslie Caron in Gigi (1958), worn even while performing her act. Karina herself did not object to being described as Godard's muse: "Maybe it's too much, it sounds so pompous. But of course I'm always very touched to hear people say that. Because Jean-Luc gave me a gift to play all of those parts." She later wrote and acted in Last Song (1987) and appeared in Up, Down, Fragile (Haut bas fragile, 1995), directed by Jacques Rivette, and sang in The Truth About Charlie (2002), a remake of the film Charade (1963).

Karina wrote, directed and starred in Victoria (2008), a musical road movie filmed in Montreal and Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean, Quebec. The lead character, played by Karina, has amnesia.

Music and writing Karina maintained a singing career. At the end of the 1960s, she scored a major hit with "Sous le soleil exactement" and "Roller Girl" by Serge Gainsbourg. Both songs are from the TV musical comedy Anna (1967), by the film director Pierre Koralnik, in which she sings seven songs alongside Gainsbourg and Jean-Claude Brialy. Karina recorded the album with Philippe Katerine, followed by a concert tour. In 2005, she released Chansons de films, a collection of songs sung in movies.

Karina wrote four novels: (1973), Golden City (1983), (1988), and Jusqu'au bout du hasard (1998).

Personal life

While working together on , as the crew were having a dinner party in Lausanne, Godard wrote a note and gave it to Karina, saying: "I love you, come and meet me at midnight in a café called Café de la Prez." At the time Karina was in a relationship but she had already fallen in love with Godard so she ended her relationship with her then-boyfriend and went to meet Godard. They began a relationship and married in 1961. Despite the critical success, their relationship behind the scenes was described as tumultuous; they fought on film sets, she fell ill several times, attempted suicide and was subsequently hospitalized in a mental health institution. Godard was often absent without explanation. He was also very jealous, questioned Karina's acting ability and told her: "How are you going to say these lines? They're so terrible! It's a comedy, you are never going to be able to do that."

One Godard film from this period which does not feature Karina, Contempt (1963) starring Brigitte Bardot wearing a black wig which resembles Karina's dark hair, is said to be based on their difficult relationship. After divorcing Godard, Karina remarried three times; she was married to French actors Pierre Fabre from 1968 to 1974 and Daniel Duval from 1978 to 1981, and to American film director Dennis Berry from 1982 until her death.

Karina died at the age of 79 on Saturday, 14 December 2019, at a hospital in Paris. According to her agent, Laurent Balandras, the cause of death was cancer.

Legacy Karina is regularly considered an icon of 1960s cinema, The Guardian described her as an "effervescent free spirit of the French new wave." The New York Times described her style as looking like a schoolgirl in her acting roles, regardless of whether she was playing a streetwalker or a terrorist. Her signature look was her dark hair, wispy bangs, heavy eyeliner and school uniform of primary-coloured sailor-uniform tops, knee socks, plaid headwear such as berets and boaters. Refinery29 wrote that "her 60s French girl style – think sailor dresses, tartan, long socks, and hats – and mesmerizing doe-eyed beauty mean she continues to be referenced today by the super-stylish."

Filmography Year Title Role Director Notes 1961 Tonight or Never Valérie Michel Deville Angela Récamier Jean-Luc Godard 1962 Cléo from 5 to 7 The Fiancée Agnès Varda episode: "Les fiancés du pont Macdonald" She'll Have to Go Toni Robert Asher Sun in Your Eyes Dagmar Jacques Bourdon My Life to Live Nana Kleinfrankenheim Jean-Luc Godard Three Fables of Love Colombe Hervé Bromberger segment: "Le corbeau et le renard" 1963 Veronica Dreyer Jean-Luc Godard Shéhérazade Shéhérazade Pierre Gaspard-Huit Sweet and Sour La pauvre Ginette Jacques Baratier 1964 Band of Outsiders Odile Jean-Luc Godard Circle of Love Rose / The Chambermaid Roger Vadim All About Loving Hélène Jean Aurel 1965 Maria Maurice Ronet Alphaville Natascha von Braun Jean-Luc Godard Elenitza Karaboris Valerio Zurlini Un mari à un prix fixe Béatrice Reinhoff Claude de Givray Marianne Renoir Jean-Luc Godard 1966 Suzanne Simonin Jacques Rivette Made in USA Paula Nelson Jean-Luc Godard 1967 Anna Anna Pierre Koralnik TV movie Zärtliche Haie Elena / Costa Michel Deville Natasha / Eleanor Romeovich, Hostess 703 Jean-Luc Godard segment: "Anticipation" Lamiel Lamiel Jean Aurel Marie Cardona Luchino Visconti 1968 Anne Guy Green Before Winter Comes Maria J. Lee Thompson 1969 Man on Horseback Elisabeth Kohlhaas Volker Schlöndorff Laughter in the Dark Margot Tony Richardson Justine Melissa George Cukor and Joseph Strick Dämonische Leinwand Klaus Wyborny 1970 The Time to Die The Unnamed Woman André Farwagi Jeanne Christian de Chalonge 1971 Rendezvous at Bray She (The Waitress) André Delvaux Carlos Clara Hans W. Geißendörfer TV movie 1972 Anna Bryant Lee H. Katzin 1973 Vivre ensemble Julie Anderson Anna Karina 1974 Bread and Chocolate Elena Franco Brusati Morel's Invention Faustine Emidio Greco 1976 Louise Benoît Jacquot Scrambled Eggs Clara Dutilleul Joël Santoni Chinese Roulette Irene Cartis Rainer Werner Fassbinder 1978 Surprise Sock Nathalie Jean-François Davy Just like Home Anna Márta Mészáros Ausgerechnet Bananen Natascha Ulli Lommel 1979 Christine Olsen Claus Weeke 1980 Charlotte, Tell Your Mother that I Love Her Stéphane Aly Borgini 1983 Vincent's Friend Eleonore Pierre Granier-Deferre 1984 Ave Maria Berthe Granjeux Jacques Richard 1985 Treasure Island The Mother Raoul Ruiz 1987 Last Song Susan Dennis Berry Last Summer in Tangiers Myrrha, a cabaret singer Alexandre Arcady Cayenne Palace Lola Alain Maline 1988 Catherine André Delvaux 1990 The Man Who Wanted to Be Guilty Edith Ole Roos 1995 Up, Down, Fragile Sarah Jacques Rivette 1996 Chloé Katia Dennis Berry TV movie 2002 Karina Jonathan Demme 2003 I, Cesar Gloria Richard Berry 2008 Victoria Victoria Anna Karina 2022 Quantum Cowboys Blacky's Memory Geoff Marslett Final film role 2025 Soredemo Ore wa, Tsuma to Shitai Shin Adachi 3 episodes