Review of Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life (2010) by Mark B — 20 Aug 2010

Tricky things biopics. No one without some small amount of interest in their subject is likely to bother watching them, and the fans already know the story inside out. So in this case the thing's spiced up with the random appearances of a selection of grotesque, paper-mache headed Jiminy Crickets offering good and bad advice to our hero. After the initial shock it becomes completely acceptable as a means of explaining Serge's outwardly contradictory personality.

Sadly, the film does lose some of that joyful initial energetic invention as it goes on, and too many great stories are skipped over; too many developments in his later life go unexplained. There might at least have been some concessions to the possibility, unlikely though it may be, that someone with no great knowledge of Serge's life might stumble upon this movie.

All the same, a half decent biopic - the first half to be precise. And brilliantly played by all involved.