Review of Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life (2010) by Dave J — 16 Aug 2010

Very stylish biopic of the great French musical iconoclast Serge Gainsbourg, known for just one controversial hit song in Britain but - as this film illustrates - actually an outrageous icon whose career spanned several decades, various musical genres and, apparently, too many scandals to fit into this film. We see his early struggles as a precocious Jewish child in Nazi-occupied France, his affairs with Juliette Greco and Brigette Bardot and his stormy marraiges, including the one to Jane Birkin that produced both that infamous UK chart-topper'Je T'Aime... Moi Non Plus' and a daughter who grew up to be Charlotte Gainsbourg. Oddly, though, there's no mention of Serge's film-making endeavours, or of the last years of his life. That seems rather a shame, since those later years contained at least two infamous episodes: Gainsbourg drunkenly propositioning Whitney Houston during a TV interview, and a French hit single with the adolescent Charlotte entitled 'Lemon Incest'.

But there is a lot to enjoy here, not least the rich repertoire of Gainsbourg music that is lovingly recreated for the screen. The film is visually striking, and not just because of the succession of beautiful women in Gainsbourg's life, for whom admirable lookalikes have been found. A lot of visual imagination has gone into this movie: the most striking conceit is the on-screen presence of Gainsbourg''s imaginary friend 'La Gueule', who looks like a cruel, huge-nosed caricature of Serge himself and who pushes him to greater risks and excesses. The device is perhaps over-used and maybe over-simplifies Gainsbourg's psychology, but it is nevertheless sometimes highly effective. Eric Elmosino is perfect as Gainsbourg, capturing his courage, his charisma and his frequent callousness to those around him. The late Lucy Gordon portrays Jane Birkin with a winning combination of eroticism and vulnerablility: it is a desperate shame that such a talented actor committed suicide as this film was in post-production. The whole film gives a playful, personal view of a compelling character; if the intention was to make audiences want to know and hear more of Serge Gainsbourg, then it certainly worked on me.