Gainsbourg (movie review)

Gainsbourg (2010) (drama) (2 hrs 10 mins)

 

Serge Gainsbourg was a successful French singer-songwriter, at the height of his popularity in the 1960s and 70s and best known for his hit single Je T’aime (with partner Jane Birkin). This unusual biopic from first-time director Joann Star focuses more on Gainsbourg’s personality than on his music and is highly engaging, particularly in the first half.

 
We first see Gainsbourg as a precocious boy in Nazi-occupied Paris. His father forces him to play the piano but he only enjoys playing when allowed the freedom to play in his own style. The pressures he faces in childhood (living in an occupied country, resisting his father’s ambitions for him to become a classical pianist, his Jewishness) appear to have a deep impact on the boy, leading him to rebel and seek artistic freedom.

He shows an early gift for art and after the war finds work as a music and art teacher in a school outside Paris. Then he finds he can make a living playing piano in bars. It is at this point that he makes a big decision: to give up art in order to concentrate on his music. He starts writing songs, performing them at a music hall and developing a following, particularly among young women. He becomes a womaniser and heavy drinker and has affairs with Brigitte Bardot and Jane Birkin.

Laetitia Casta gives a stunning performance as Bardot, cavorting around his apartment wrapped in a sheet. It’s his time with Bardot that seems the happiest of his life and it’s for Bardot that he writes Je T’aime, though it’s with Birkin that he later records the song. It becomes a hit single around the world. Success appears to go to his head, he starts drinking too much and getting into scrapes.

The most interesting scenes in the film are the many appearances of The Face, a grotesque alter ego who represents Gainsbourg’s darker side. The Face constantly tempts him to drink, hang out in bars, have affairs with young women and neglect his family. Director Joann Star draws upon his background as an artist (he first drew the story in comic book form) to create several surreal scenes, such as when the Face flies at night above the Paris rooftops like a giant bird, carrying Gainsbourg off into the night.

Eric Elmosino gives an outstanding performance in the central role, portraying Gainsbourg as mysterious, restless, witty, outspoken. We don’t learn that much about his musical career, just seeing glimpses of his various musical styles: playing jazz in nightclubs, disco in concerts and reggae in a Jamaican recording studio. It’s hard to tell how he built such a following in France and whether his musical legacy will endure.

The film won 3 Cesar Awards in France in 2011 but received mixed reviews world-wide. It was praised for its imaginative approach but also criticised for lacking drama and emotional depth. I recommend it as a genuine curio that may leave you wanting to find out more about a fascinating man.

 Rating: 7/10