Jean Seberg Books

I bought this book because my husband grew up near Seberg's hometown of Marshalltown, Iowa, and he always wanted to know more about her. He doesn't read much except farm magazines and veterinary journals, but he read this book almost every night and enjoyed it. It has the right combination of childhood background, photos, movie industry gossip, and film history. A tragic and fascinating story of a young woman thrust into films without enough supervision and guidance.

Before Mia, Twiggy & Edie, there was Jean Seberg, the original Pixie. Because her successors were, well, more successful, Jean often gets overlooked when it comes time to dole out the honors to the women who influenced the style, shape & complexion of 60's femininity. Her only contemporaries to give her a run for her money were Shirley Maclaine and Audrey Hepburn, whose "Roman Holiday" appeared three year's before Jean's "Saint Joan". These actresses each were forging a new kind of feminine identity, one that hadn't been seen on the screen before. Each retained something of a child, pretty but not sexualized, female Peter Pans. Of them all, I find Seberg the most interesting screen presence, if not necessarily the best actress. Is it only because she came to a tragic end that she is more compelling and enigmatic on the screen?

Certainly her performances in "Breathless", "Lillith" and even "Bon Jour, Tristesse" are little marvels. Acting-wise, she reminds me of Louise Brooks, in as much as her acting doesn't announce itself boldly. It's humble, poetic, watercolory. She is not so in love with her technique that her subtle effects are marred by the bold, show-offy strokes of her "method". And more than just being pretty-- her balance of earthiness and old-fashioned glamour is breathtaking when she's at her height.

I just received my copy of this book, which I discovered by accident searching for new Seberg movies on DVD--I hadn't realized there even WAS a new book on Jean; I hadn't heard a murmur about it or seen a review anywhere. So my expectations were low, especially with the current rash of "Do It Yourself" books coming out of the woodwork since the internet made it possible--and affordable--to self-distribute.

But even just skimming the book, I was pleasantly surprised to see that that it's intelligently written and well researched. With 311 pages and a relatively small typeface, it is satisfyingly dense, and much more than a perfunctory synopsis of Jean's life and infamous death from suicide in 1979. In fact, it's so good you find yourself wishing a bigger publisher had picked it up--for aside from it's beautiful cover, it does have the look--with it's xeroxy looking pictures, too-small fontsize and printerpage-white paper stock--of a self-published work. But don't let the DIY looks fool you---this book is a must for any Seberg enthusiast, and may well be better than its predecessor on the subject, "Played Out- The Jean Seberg Story" (Playboy Press) by David Richard, which had bigger backing and slicker production value but which lacked the depth & thoroughness of Gary McGee's work here. "Breathless" balances sensitivity with investigative journalism and the result is sure to please both scholars AND fans of Seberg.

Richly illustrated with photographs--many of them rare and never before published (to my knowledge), the effect is undermined by the low resolution of the reproductions. A larger, coffee-table type format with high-res pictures (along the lines of the Edie: Girl on Fire book) would have been fabulous. But as we know, sometimes, "it's not in the budget", so I'm grateful for what I got, which is an illuminating and poignant portrait of this often overlooked but still resonant star.

I read "Played Out: The Jean Seberg Story" by David Richards many years ago and still can remember how well written it was. It chronicles the life of actress Jean Seberg, from her humble beginnings in Iowa through her life as an actress in Hollywood and France, and then her suicide in Paris from a barbituate overdose at the tragically young age of 41. The book paints Seberg not so much as an anti-establishment rebel as has been written of her so often in the past (although she was involved in the anti-vietnam peace movement), instead as a vulnerable, tragic young woman who was pushed into the abyss of mental illness by the bizarre actions of the FBI who listed her as a "subversive" due to her association with some members of the Black Panther Party in the early 1970's. It also tells of her film career (her films include Joan Of Arc, Paint Your Wagon and Airport), and also her 3 marriages. Most compelling is the story Author Richards tells of her slow downward spiral into depression, then madness. A must read for Jean Seberg fans.