Anna Karina, French New Wave cinema star, has died aged 79

The star of French New Wave classics, including 'Bande à Part' and 'Pierrot le Fou', has died at the age of 79

Anna Karina, star of French New Wave classics including Bande à Part and Pierrot le Fou and long-time collaborator with director Jean-Luc Godard, has died of cancer at the age of 79.

The actor starred in seven films made by her ex-husband Godard, including Alphaville, and developed a successful modelling career before being spotted by Godard while walking along the Champs-Élysées in Paris.

He wanted to cast her in his first and most famous film Breathless, Karina explained years later, but she turned down the role due to nudity in some of the scenes.

Anna Karina
Anna Karina playing Marianne Renoir in ‘Pierrot le Fou’. Credit: Jacques Haillot/Apis/Sygma/Sygma via Getty Images

In 1961, she and Godard got married – though they would divorce less than four years later – and Karina won best actress at the Berlin Film Festival for Godard’s A Woman is a Woman.

“It was really a great love story, but very tiring in a way for a young girl because he would go away a lot,” Karina told Vogue of the relationship in 2016.

“He would say he was going to buy some cigarettes and he would come back three weeks later.”

Karina went on to work with a number of big names of the era, including Jacques Rivette, Luchino Visconti and Tony Richardson. As well as acting, Karina experienced success as both a director, on Vivre Ensemble, and as a singer on ‘Sous Le Soleil Exactement’ with Serge Gainsbourg.

“Today, French cinema has been orphaned. It has lost one of its legends,” culture minister Franck Riester tweeted of Karina’s death.

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