Birkin and Gainsbourg

In a recent edition of Champs Elysées we had an interesting discussion on the Serge Gainsbourg-Jane Birkin song Je t'aime, Moi non plus, released exactly 30 years ago. I made the observation that though the song is remembered for its explicit sexuality (all that heavy breathing), in fact the message is far more subtle. After all, what does "Je t'aime, Moi non plus" exactly mean? I love you; Nor do I -- an apparent non sequitur. Was it, I speculated, a misogynistic comment on male sexuality -- the man scornfully admitting that the physical was all that counted. Or was it deeper -- the man hearing the woman's "I love you" as an empty phrase, which he echoes with an equally empty negative.

It seems I was close with the second guess. On the 30th anniversary of the song, I interviewed Jane Birkin and she said it was all to do with Gainsbourg's vulnerability. "I never quite knew what he meant (by the words). Was it because he was too shy to say 'So do I' because it was too banal, what everyone says when they are knocking each other off. Or maybe it was because he didn't believe it (the 'I love you'). He thought that was what girls always say. He was fairly 'désabusé' (had no illusions) about love. He had had several affairs that went wrong. Brigitte Bardot left him. So did I eventually. His belief in his own beauty was not very high. He loved the way other people looked. He wanted to look like (actor) Robert Taylor. With his big ears and his hooked nose -- he did not like his face."

So there you have it.