Anna Karina, The Acclaimed French New Wave Actress And Filmmaker, Has Died

For most lay audiences, Martin Scorsese’s comments about the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the backlash against them will probably be the closest they ever get to experiencing or understanding film criticism and history. However, there’s far more to the wider critical world of cinema than mobsters taking on superheroes, and many of this world’s greatest titans are, sadly, leaving us. Like Anna Karina, the acclaimed Danish-French actress, singer, and director whose collaborations with Jean Luc Godard during the 1960s ushered in the “French New Wave” era and changed cinema forever.

According to the New York Times, Karina died at the age of 79 on Saturday in Paris. Franck Riester, the french cultural minister, confirmed the news in a tweet, while, per the NYT, Karina’s agent later acknowledged she had succumbed to a battle with cancer.

Thanks to movies like Le Petit Soldat, Bande à Part, Vivre Sa Vie, and many others, both Godard and Karina’s profiles exploded onto the international scene throughout the 1960s and beyond. The young actress even won the best actress award at the acclaimed Berlin International Film Festival in 1961 for her work in Une Femme Est Une Femme, in which she played a stripper who wanted to have a baby and raise it without a father or male figure in the picture.

After her initial explosion with Godard, Karina went on to star in, and direct, her own films throughout the 1970s and beyond. She also wrote several novels and tried her hands at a singing career.

(Via New York Times)