It Girl: The Life and Legacy of Jane Birkin
Meltzer captures the sense of carelessness — intentional and benign — that marked Birkin’s life ... But Meltzer’s extensive reporting only goes so far; her portrayal is based on Birkin’s published diaries, media coverage and public performances ... Both intimate and removed.
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Entertaining, if gauzy ... Understands the sexism inherent in being branded — pigeonholed, really — as a muse to tempestuous men, and asserts Birkin as an artist in her own right ... It loses energy somewhat after [Birkin's] time with Gainsbourg ... Still, Meltzer takes care to depict Birkin as a loving if permissive mother, and some of the book’s most evocative scenes capture Birkin with her daughters ... As much detail as Meltzer fills in, it’s ultimately Birkin herself who offers the most telling insight.
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Sympathetic ... Dutiful in giving Birkin credit as a serious actress and singer, but it never brings her fully to life. Birkin’s surviving daughters and friends, who might have offered a more intimate glimpse of her, did not cooperate with Ms. Meltzer. The result is a book assembled mostly from previously available material ... Nor does the book contain any photographs of Birkin, other than the image that appears on the cover—a particularly strange omission in a biography of a woman whose appeal was largely visual.
