A “requiescat in pace” goes out to the inimitable Anna Karina, who passed away yesterday at age 79. A top-shelf actor during her heyday, Karina was Jean-Luc Godard’s muse in the 1960s and her unwavering charm and disarming looks factored heavily into why films like Pierrot Le Fou, Alphaville, Vivre sa Vie, A Woman is a Woman, and Band of Outsiders et al. went over so well and are now considered classics. I’ve enjoyed many of these films but Pierrot Le Fou in particular holds a special place in my heart, and Karina’s contribution to it was essential–at turns luminous and dreamy, assertive, feisty, and comical. Karina also worked with such filmmakers as Fassbinder, Rivette, Schlöndorff, and Visconti, among many others. She wrote four novels and had a singing career as well. Much more could be said, but suffice it to say, she left quite a mark on film culture and will be missed.
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