“Jane by Charlotte” Being a Mother and an Eternal Daughter

mankey's diary

According to Charlotte, Jane is an extrovert and Charlotte is an introvert. However, reading Jane's diary "Munkey Diaries", it becomes clear that Jane is also an introvert. In order to play the role of "mother" in front of Charlotte, she may have needed to appear extroverted. What impresses me most about Jane's diary is the image of her mother always worrying about her three daughters. She's definitely shy, but she can be surprisingly bold in front of the camera. A contradiction I've heard somewhere. This is exactly how many people close to Charlotte have described her.

Munkey, the title of Jane's diary, is the name of the stuffed animal she hugs on the cover of Serge Gainsbourg's album The Story of Melody Nelson. Even as an adult, Jane carried Mankey around with her. He says he has never boarded a plane or train without Mankey with him. Mankey was placed in Serge's coffin with him.

“Jane by Charlotte” © 2021 NOLITA CINEMA – DEADLY VALENTINE PUBLISHING / ReallyLikeFilms

Jane's appearance as a child is almost boyish rather than boyish (Jane as a child can be seen on the cover of the album ``Winter's Children''). Twelve-year-old Jane is neither a girl nor a boy. According to Jane, this is what she was like before her "social disguise" began. “The magical age of 12 years old.” As a child, Jane cut her own hair. He wanted to wear boys' clothes. And the undifferentiated sexuality and androgynous nature of childhood becomes an important motif when considering Jane's career. As is clear from Serge Gainsbourg's timeless masterpiece Je t'aime moi non plus (1976), Serge loved Jane's androgynous nature. And Jane's unique androgynous nature will be passed on to Charlotte. Charlotte has had her own world since childhood. Jane points this out, but the same thing probably applies to Jane as a girl. Their life trajectories are very similar.

Jane has had a deep connection with cameras since she was a child. Jane says that her brother Andrew Birkin's independent films made when they were children are her best work. It makes sense that Charlotte uses a variety of cameras in Jane by Charlotte. In particular, the use of Super 8 is an homage to the private films that Jane and Serge took of their family. Jane edits archival footage shot with Super 8 and presents it to the world as her own directorial work. The way Charlotte holds the camera in Jane by Charlotte reminds us of her older sister, Kate Barry, who was a photographer. Charlotte's exploration of the relationship between the family and the camera is subtly applied throughout the work.

Exchange of “voices” from childhood