Has there ever been a French goddess as captivating as Anna Karina? Sure, you have Brigitte Bardot and Catherine Deneuve, but those are just your token blondes. Karina has that something many in the modern world would liken to a manic pixie dream girl essence–without the annoying whininess that goes along with the character type. With Jean-Paul Belmondo in Pierrot le Fou
In addition to serving as Jean-Luc Godard’s muse, Karina showed women everywhere that you didn’t have to be overtly sexual in order to be sexy. In fact, knee-length skirts and long-sleeve sweaters are plenty to attract a man struggling to imagine what you look like underneath. Disaffected in Band of Outsiders
Karina’s moody vibe was also different from that of Bardot or Deneuve in that it was the type of moodiness that begged you to understand what was behind it. As an “exotic dancer” in A Woman Is A Woman, a disinterested student in Band of Outsiders or a babysitter in Pierrot le Fou, Karina consistently exhibits the same penetrable invulnerability that begs for someone to pierce through it (take that sexually if you wish). There’s that penetrable invulnerability
Through the years, many a Frenchie has tried to emulate her sweet, sullen nature, but only has Karina has the premium on being the beacon of what Nathan Rabin would call a “creature that exists solely in the fevered imaginations of sensitive writer-directors to teach broodingly soulful young men to embrace life and its infinite mysteries and adventures.”
