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By Katie Walmsley, Director Adjust font size:
    Monday 14.00 ... Arrive in Paris with my cameraman, Andrew, on the Eurostar. We get to our hotel and head out to take some shots of the Champs Elysees and Arc De Triomphe 17.00 ... Head over to the recording studio where Jane is rehearsing songs from her new album "Fictions." We meet her and film her singing the song "Home" with her backing band. When she's finished we have a quick interview with her about the new album, and the upcoming tour -- and about why after so long she has chosen to sing in her native English again, instead of French. 17.30 ... We get into the car to head over to Jane's house to pick up her dog, Dora. While en route she tells us the story of how she became one of France's best known sex symbols. She came over aged 22 to work on a film, which also starred the famous actor Serge Gainsbourg. Gainsbourg at the time had just broken up with Brigitte Bardot, and the two fell in love. They became one of France's most renowned couples; famous for staying together for 13 years, for their legendary public arguments, but most of all for the song written for Jane by Serge called "Je t'aime ... moi non plus" which was considered at the time to be so simultaneously sexy and morally corrupt it was banned by the Vatican and the BBC. And as a result the song and the couple received worldwide attention. She and Serge separated in 1981 and he died in 1991 but he is still a huge part of Jane's life and she has dedicated much of her work to him. 18.00 ... We pick up Dora, Jane's English bulldog and the new love of her life. Dora and Jane show us their neighborhood; in a particularly chic part of Saint Germain, and Jane tells us about her three daughters; Kate, Charlotte and Lou -- who all live around her area. 18.30 ... We take Dora for dinner at the Brasserie Vagenende; one of Jane's favorite places in Saint Germain des Pres. It's absolutely beautiful inside; very art nouveau and very Parisien. The waiters there all know her well and immediately give Dora a bone, which Jane scoops the middle out of and feeds to Dora on crostini. Dora looks nonchalent; she probably goes out for canapes all the time. 19.00 ... After Dora has finished we leave and go down to the banks of the Seine by Saint Germain where Dora usually walks. We bump into another dog and owner on the bridge who Jane knows. The dogs play together while the Eiffel Tower lights up in a sparkly display in the background. We go down the stairs to the banks of the river and Jane tells us a story of a time when, angry with Gainsbourg for emptying her bag in front of a crowd in a bar, she threw a custard pie in his face. Furious, Gainsbourg stalked out of the club and a mortified Jane followed him and hid behind a tree by the banks of the river, along the way she knew he'd go home. When he passed her, still wiping custard off his face, she jumped out from behind the tree and ran into the Seine to show him how sorry she was. Probably a bad idea in retrospect as there's a kind of whirlpool in the middle of the river and she ended up having to be fished out by the pompiers. But nevertheless the story showed how passionate they were about each other; and how eccentric as a couple. 20.00 ... We wrap. Jane has to be up at the crack of dawn the next day and Dora has had enough. We drop her off and Andrew and I head out to investigate Paris nightlife -- starting at a restaurant called Kong at the top of the Kenzo building for snails, then to the bar at the plaza Athenee where we share the most expensive jelly shots I've ever had, finish up at a terrible club involving half-naked pole dancing men in frayed denim chaps and various members of the Parisian paparazzi, and don't get back to the hotel until a very short time before we have to get the Eurostar back to London with the rushes; both of us immediately falling asleep. I regret not throwing a custard pie in Andrew's face then jumping into the Seine as it would have made a better story -- but I'm sure I wouldn't have done it in nearly as a dramatic and alluring way as Jane and probably would have got sick -- so in retrospect it's probably better I didn't...... |
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