Charlotte Gainsbourg is the focus of the month in Manhattan

Not only Charlotte just launched her new album IRM last week here in New York, but she will be the hero of the month at the French Institute Alliance Francaise where some of her most famous movies will be shown every Tuesdays night in February.

Free download of her new album IRM on her website

The daughter of France's mythical couple, pop sensation and provocateur Serge Gainsbourg, and British actress and singer Jane Birkin, Charlotte Gainsbourg has shown both daring and creativity in her rise to the vanguard of France's cultural scene. A natural virtuoso by the age of twelve, her breakout role in Claude Miller's L'Effrontée earned her a first César award for "Most Promising Actress" in 1985. Since then, Gainsbourg has starred in over thirty critically-acclaimed films and has worked with prominent directors such as Agnès Varda, Franco Zeffirelli, Eric Rochant, Michel Gondry, and Todd Haynes, to name a few. Her film work has earned her countless César nominations, including Best Supporting Actress for La Bûche (1999), one of the films to be shown during the FIAF series. The fearless Gainsbourg's most provocative work yet as the grieving mother character in Lars von Trier's Antichrist (2009) won her the Best Actress award at the Cannes Film Festival this past May.

CinemaTuesday at www.fiaf.org

L'Effrontée

February 16 at 4pm

Directed by Claude Miller, 1985. Color. 96 min.

With Charlotte Gainsbourg, Clothilde Baudon, Bernadette Laffont, Jean-Claude Brialy

Note: No English subtitles

Winner of the Prix Louis-Delluc, L'Effrontée earned Gainsbourg the "Most Promising Actress" César for this, her first starring role. As a teenager in rural France, Charlotte (Gainsbourg) is frustrated and bored with home life. But a young pianist upends her world with talk of opportunity elsewhere, far from her family.

 

Charlotte for Ever

February 16 at 12:30 & 7:30pm

Directed by Serge Gainsbourg, 1986. Color. 94 min.

With Charlotte Gainsbourg, Serge Gainsbourg, Roland Bertin, Roland Dubillard

Note: This film contains R-rated material

A rare, not-to-be-missed screening of this notorious and misunderstood film. Serge Gainsbourg wrote, directed, and starred in this dark and fascinating tale of a screenwriter grieving over his wife's unexpected death. Suicidal, he turns for affection to the only remaining link to his wife-his daughter.

 
 

Kung-fu master!

February 23 at 12:30, 4 & 7:30pm

Agnès Varda, 1988. Color. 80 min.

With Jane Birkin, Mathieu Demy, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Lou Doillon

Mary-Jane (Birkin), a divorced mother of two, grows close to a teenage boy she met at her daughter's party. Through conversations, vacations, and video games, the pair's relationship evolves in a way that confuses their families and even themselves. Varda's empathetic direction anchors this delicate, but often powerful story.

Read "A Gainsbourg Moves Beyond her Legacy" " by Jody Rosen in the New York Times