Charlotte’s web: Charlotte Gainsbourg on taking risks in cinema

The entertainment genes have got to be in Charlotte Gainsbourg’s blood. Born the daughter of actor/singer dad Serge Gainsbourg and actor/singer mum Jane Birkin [who created their own duet Je T’aime… Moi Non Plus back in the ’70s], Charlotte says that while there was always creativity going on at home, it was actually quite a normal upbringing she experienced.

Still, like mum and dad, Charlotte has built a career around acting and singing.

Currently she appears as one of the female leads in Independence Day: Resurgence, playing Dr. Catherine Marceaux, a psychiatrist who works alongside the film’s main protagonist in attempting to decipher alien code.

Here Charlotte Gainsbourg chats with Cream about taking risks in cinema, being brought up by notorious parents, her affinity with Madonna, and using MRI machines as inspiration for music.

Interview by Antonino Tati

Hi Charlotte. You’ve been acting for some time now but you’ve been singing for even longer. How old were you when you first sang with your dad?
We did a song called Lemon Incest when I was 12. And, yeah, it caused quite a scandal at the time, but I was very well protected by my parents.

Did you ever feel that your dad’s songs went a little overboard in the risque department?
Yeah, but I had a very normal, loving relationship with both my parents. I was being confronted with these issues of sexuality but it didn’t affect me negatively. Eventually, dad wrote an entire ‘normal’ album for me to sing on.

‘Charlotte For Ever’?
Yeah, and then, when he died, I thought I would never sing again, because he was the one who made my singing possible.

It’s almost as though you were born with a gene to entertain, what with your mother being Jane Birkin, who also acted and sang with your dad.
Exactly. And it’s lovely to be able to say that I came from quite a loving relationship.

Do you still see your mum?
Yeah. We live about two blocks away from one another. Jane performs still; singing and doing a little film work.

You’ve appeared in many films yourself including the just-released ‘Independence Day: Resurgence’. What have been some of your favourite films to work on?

Charlotte in a still from the set of ‘Independence Day: Resurgence’.

I liked being a part of something big like ‘IDR’. It was good because I could be myself in that role; I didn’t have to pretend to be anyone else; I didn’t have to exaggerate [indeed Charlotte keeps her semi-English/semi-French accent]. But going back, I liked playing the title character in Charlotte Brontë’s ‘Jane Eyre’. And ‘AntiChrist’ was quite a challenge. I also liked being in ‘The Science Of Sleep’ and ‘The Cement Garden’.

We’ll get to the controversy of ‘AntiChrist’ in a moment, but with regards to ‘The Cement Garden’, didn’t Madonna sample some of your dialogue from that film for her single ‘What It Feels Like For A Girl’?
Yes, that’s me giving a monologue from a scene in ‘The Cement Garden’… ‘Girls can wear jeans, cut their hair short, wear shirts and boots’… and all that.

A lot of people may have thought that was Madonna speaking the part?
Well now they know it wasn’t [laughs]. I was very proud to hear that monologue included. It was quite surreal when she called me on the phone and told me what she wanted to do. I’d wish I’d written it myself.

What about your own songs; do you co-write some of those?
No, most of my songs and music are written for me. I just have input into the ideas, and sometimes add a few words here and there. A lot of it has to do with my desire to work with particular people. Like the guys from Air [on her album 5:55] and Beck [on IRM].

I understand the lead single from ‘IRM’ was recorded in recollection of bizarre experiences you had with MRI machines a while ago?
Yeah, it was influenced by the whole electronics of MRIs. I had quite a traumatic personal incident [In 2007, Charlotte was rushed to hospital where she underwent surgery for a cerebral haemorrhage caused by a water-skiing accident]. MRIs are not a pleasant experience. Still, I wanted to put those sounds into a song [the song’s title is MRI backwards]. Even though it’s a very disturbing sound, there is a rhythm there; something organic. And to me it was like a catharsis; getting the incident out of my system.

You’re still keeping yourself in check then?
Yes, I discovered yoga quite a few years ago, which I’m always doing.

Was it around the time you were filming the rather intense ‘AntiChrist’, which is probably when you needed it most?
Yep. The yoga was certainly a relief after working on such a dark, dark film.

‘AntiChrist’ was described as “misogynistic, torture porn and an artistic hoax” but also one of director Lars von Trier’s best works…
It does have this balance, between people hating it and people loving it. The press screenings were violent. I was getting ready to receive rotten tomatoes… I know it’s full of taboos [in the film, Charlotte’s character tries to miscarriage using a crucifix as a tool] and I know Lars does enjoy that attention, but I think it’s a very honest film, and he’s very sincere in what he says and what he wanted to show, including his own fears which I find very courageous.

Away from acting and singing, what everyday things do you like to do?
I spend all of my free time with my children. We go to movies, play the piano, stuff like that. So I guess I tend to keep it very normal!

Charlotte Gainsbourg stars in ‘Independence Day: Resurgence’, in cinemas now.

See the trailer above.