Anna Karina Quotes

I came to the showroom to show pictures, and [Coco Chanel] said, “Okay, we’ll make a test to see if you can do it.” I was a little girl—about 17-and-a-half—and so I went into the makeup room and I did my makeup, and my hair, and the eyes to get them a little bit bolder. This woman came in with a big hat, she was 66 or 65 or something like that, but very beautiful! Kind of militaire. She said, “What is your name little girl?” I was talking to the makeup lady, and said, “My name is Hanne Karin Bayer.” She said, “Hanne Karin Bayer? And you want to be an actress? You’ve got to call yourself Anna Karina.” And I said, “Oh that sounds good, thank you, Madame.” Afterwards everybody told me it was Coco Chanel. Two weeks later I got my photo on the cover of Elle magazine and I really got work. That was a big honor at the time, and they called me “Anna Karina,” but they spelled it the wrong way in the beginning, with a “C,” the Italian way.

We did not see ourselves as remaking cinema at the time, at least not in my view. Myself and the other actors were not part of the industry; we weren’t inside the star system. We were running around, shooting in the streets, hiding behind trees to do our makeup. It was a very simple way of working.

J'imaginais que j'allais voyager avec des gitans et que j'allais chanter dans la rue. Un peu comme Piaf. Je connaissais toutes les chansons des chanteuses réalistes, Damia, Berthe Sylva, Fréhel. Je me rappelle aussi que je voulais me marier avec Louis Armstrong

If I write my story, I would tell it as I lived it. I always tell the truth. I am not going to embellish or smear the image.

As soon as we were happy, he tried to get at us by another means, another path. He provoked a new ordeal. One could have thought that it bored him, happiness.

Lots of resistance. People really didn’t like it. ‘What is she doing here? This is not her job, she should stay being an actress.’ But I just wanted to see if I could do it, that’s all. And I wrote novels. And did singing – two albums, or did I say that already?

Si j'écris mon histoire, c'est telle que je l'ai vécue. Je dis toujours la vérité. Je ne vais ni enjoliver ni noircir le tableau.

Serge [Gainsbourg] knew what he wanted. A perfectionist. We rehearsed a lot, we only spoke in verlan. I hardly have much fun with a man, but we were very close.