Fans and Family Bid Tearful Farewell to ‘French Icon’ Jane Birkin 

Jane Birkin's daughters French-British actress Lou Doillon (R) and French-British actress Charlotte Gainsbourg (L) arrive to attend the funeral ceremony for late British-French singer and actress Jane Birkin at the Saint-Roch church in Paris on July 24, 2023. (AFP)
Jane Birkin's daughters French-British actress Lou Doillon (R) and French-British actress Charlotte Gainsbourg (L) arrive to attend the funeral ceremony for late British-French singer and actress Jane Birkin at the Saint-Roch church in Paris on July 24, 2023. (AFP)
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Fans and Family Bid Tearful Farewell to ‘French Icon’ Jane Birkin 

Jane Birkin's daughters French-British actress Lou Doillon (R) and French-British actress Charlotte Gainsbourg (L) arrive to attend the funeral ceremony for late British-French singer and actress Jane Birkin at the Saint-Roch church in Paris on July 24, 2023. (AFP)
Jane Birkin's daughters French-British actress Lou Doillon (R) and French-British actress Charlotte Gainsbourg (L) arrive to attend the funeral ceremony for late British-French singer and actress Jane Birkin at the Saint-Roch church in Paris on July 24, 2023. (AFP)

Hundreds of fans joined film legends and family members to bid farewell to British-born actress and singer Jane Birkin at her funeral in Paris on Monday.

Film star Catherine Deneuve, singer Vanessa Paradis and first Lady Brigitte Macron were among the mourners in the Saint-Roch church.

Outside, tearful fans waving banners marked with "Jane Forever" and "Thank you Jane Birkin" watched the ceremony on a giant screen on the corner of Rue des Pyramides and Rue Saint-Honore.

Birkin's songs, including "La Javanaise", played through speakers across the French capital's first arrondissement.

"I already feel the vacuum she is leaving. This is my mother, our mother," Birkin's daughter, the actress and singer Charlotte Gainsbourg, told mourners in the church.

"Mother, thank you for not being ordinary and reasonable," her other daughter, the actress and singer Lou Doillon, said during the ceremony.

Other mourners included singers Alain Souchon, Etienne Daho, who composed her last album, and Matthieu Chedid.

President Emmanuel Macron declared Birkin "a French icon" after she her death was announced on July 16 at the age of 76.

Overseas, she was best known overseas for her sensual 1969 hit “Je t’aime ... moi non plus”, performed with Serge Gainsbourg.

In France, where she had lived since the late 1960s, she became a well-known and much-loved figure for her songs, roles in dozens of films and the stance she took on a range of issues including women's rights.



Francis Ford Coppola Thinks 'Megalopolis' Outweighs Ordinary Film Ideas

 Francis Ford Coppola attends the premiere of "Megalopolis" on Monday, Sept. 23, 2024, at AMC Lincoln Square in New York. (AP)
Francis Ford Coppola attends the premiere of "Megalopolis" on Monday, Sept. 23, 2024, at AMC Lincoln Square in New York. (AP)
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Francis Ford Coppola Thinks 'Megalopolis' Outweighs Ordinary Film Ideas

 Francis Ford Coppola attends the premiere of "Megalopolis" on Monday, Sept. 23, 2024, at AMC Lincoln Square in New York. (AP)
Francis Ford Coppola attends the premiere of "Megalopolis" on Monday, Sept. 23, 2024, at AMC Lincoln Square in New York. (AP)

Renowned American director Francis Ford Coppola believes his harshly criticized science fiction film “Megalopolis” offers audiences a unique narrative vastly different from what they are accustomed to seeing.

"We're so used to seeing movies that are like other movies because they're financed that way,” Coppola told Reuters during a Zoom interview while he was at the Toronto International Film Festival, where the film was also screened.

"It's [movies like other movies] always something that's already proven that it will make money. It's like a potato chip that you know is habit forming and 'Megalopolis' is new,” he added.

After debuting this year at the Cannes Film Festival, Coppola's $120 million self-funded project is going to be shared with broader audiences when it arrives to US movie theaters on Friday.

While the film will be distributed by Lionsgate, Coppola maintains ownership of the movie.

Adam Driver stars as Cesar Catilina, an architect-scientist who wants to better a fictional version of New York City called New Rome, pitting him against Mayor Franklyn Cicero, played by Giancarlo Esposito, who prizes authority and institutions over change.

Catilina falls in love with the mayor's daughter, Julia, played by "Game of Thrones"' Nathalie Emmanuel, as she helps him work towards his vision and re-ignites his power to stop time.

When asked if “Megalopolis” is an allegory for his film-making journey, the 85-year-old director said, “All of my films are.”

“When I was young and made 'The Godfather,'” I had to be like Michael [Michael Corleone] because I had no power and I had to be very Machiavellian. When I made 'Apocalypse Now,' I was in an absurd situation with helicopters and millions of dollars every week that I was paying for, so I had to become a megalomaniac like Kurtz [Colonel Kurtz]. You know, I have always become the characters in my movies just to survive,” he added.

While the press response to the movie has been poor with a low score of 51% on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, Driver believes “Megalopolis” is a film that needs more than one viewing to be truly absorbed.

"I think it does have legs and I think it is something that you want to return to and can return to and mine something else out of it," Driver said. "And it, you know, has a place in people's minds as being one of a kind, which I don't think a lot of films can say that, you know."