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Gainsbourg Reviews
Erik puts on a Masterclass performance as Serge Gainbourgs in this comicbook adaptation based on his life story. Pretty bold and in your face, a different type of biography. Messy at times, but gets goals accomplished very well. Delves deep into the psychology of what genius intellectuals see around them and how their imaginations run.
Most informative to those who do not know Gainsbourg well; strong performances by the leads and support
For a film that's supposed to be mostly about music, the rhythm and editing are particularly bad, 95% of the songs will start and after 25 seconds or so they end abruptly. Visually interesting but ultimately this is a film about nothing, and this is coming from someone who loves Gainsbourg's music. However; Éric Elmosnino as the title character and Doug Jones as 'La Gueule' (Gainsbourg's mug) are both superb!
I LOVE Gainsbourg and bought many of his CDs in vinyl in my youth. However, this movie makes me hate him. So disappointed to see him like this. Gross.
60s paris in a poetic & surrealistic way.
un résumé de la vie de Gainsbourg sans dates pour repère. des marionnettes grandeurs nature.
If you know nothing about Serge Gainsbourg, this film may serve to be a fine starting point. It's quite surprising to see Claude Chabrol in it.
it pays homage to France's raunchiest prince of pop --but behind the narcissism, self-indulgent behavior, and litrally the smokes and a swarm of adulating lovers is a talented soul who spent his life fighting to be more than just ordinary, to break out of the Juif mode. Eric Elmosnin has an uncanny resemblance to Gainsbourg and its really quite admirably done. Gainsbarre
"Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life" is either the worst biographical film I've seen or one of the most unaccessible vanity projects of all time. Any way you look at it, however, "Gainsbourg" is a film that name-drops like crazy, but doesn't manage to tell a story. Serge Gainsbourg is one of the most important musicians in French music history, but this film does nothing to make him seem that way. Is his life "heroic," as the title suggests? No, it isn't. The film follows the life of Gainsbourg (Eric Elsmosnino) from his childhood up until his final affair with sultry singer/model Bambou (Mylène Jampanoï). We figure that he probably dies at the end of the film. He looks like crap and we closely watch his battle with alcohol and cigarettes. Throughout the movie, we see his early marriages, his short but famous affair with Brigitte Bardot (Laetitia Casta), and his long, important relationship with Jane Birkin (Lucy Gordon). You know you have a problem when every event in "Gainsbourg" has to be looked up on wikipedia.org just to have an understanding of what is actually going on. The story is so thin, it's almost transparent, because director/writer Joann Sfar is much more interested in setting the "cool" lifestyle Gainsbourg undertook throughout his life rather than inform us what happened within it. Sfar clearly adores Gainsbourg -- after all, the film itself is adapted from a graphic novel that he created, and in the past he has proclaimed that he is a "huge fan". However, while Sfar manages to give an idea of how tragic Gainsbourg's life was, it still remains a mystery why he was such an influential musician or what made him partake in such self-destructive behavior. If anything, Gainsbourg's story would fit better into a miniseries, where every detail of his life could be closely examined and thought out to the fullest extent. It doesn't work for a two-hour film. Everything is so rushed that many of the interesting details are left out: what about Gainsbourg's scandalous duet with his daughter, Charlotte, for a song entitled "Lemon Incest"? What about the aftermath of the double-entendre laden song he wrote for France Gall, which ruined her career? In a two-hour film, it would be much smarter to focus on one aspect of the titular figure's life. It's a shame, in the meantime, that "Gainsbourg" undermines the many great performances that take place. Elsmosnino easily could be one of those actors that looks the part, but does nothing to step into the shoes of the character that he's playing. But that isn't the case: Elsmosnino becomes Gainsbourg, and there isn't a second where you doubt that. Gordon, who tragically committed suicide during post-production, captures the fragile beauty that Birkin was so famous for; Casta's brief part of Bardot is so flawless that you forget it isn't Bardot herself on the screen. Despite it's pros, "Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life" has much too many cons. It is so shallow that a simple online biography of the musician would give us more information. What a pity.
a true masterpiece... Definitely a must-see movie... we need to praise the director for his delivery. btw, Serge Gainsbourg is one of the greatest...
It was good but I felt it breezed over too much of his life. It never stayed in one part too long. I would have liked it more if they just focused on one one section or just made the movie longer. The actor Eric Elmonsino really did look a lot like Serge Gainsbourg though.
Before there was a Serge Gainsbourg(Eric Elmosnino), there was a Lucien Ginsburg(Kacey Mottet Klein), who as a child during the Nazi occupation of France, shows up early to get his yellow star. Otherwise, his musician father(Razvan Vasilescu) wants him to follow in his footsteps but young Lucien has other ideas that involve an interest in painting, especially after an early encounter with a nude model(Ophelia Kolb). As an adult, he is still studying art, at least until he meets Juliette Greco(Anna Mouglalis), Dali's mistress, as his mind goes back to music where the money is. As much as the spirited and sexy biopic "Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life" assumes the audience already knows about the work of the legendary composer and musician, it does not hurt the movie as it takes more of a psychological and expressionistic view, starting with the cool animated opening titles, as Gainsbourg is advised by his walking id(Doug Jones,) who also interacts with other characters, well into adulthood. That's when he gets to live the life he always dreamed of as a child with a panoply of beautiful women, and smoking cigarettes that make him look cool and which will also be the end of him. But if he could also make great songs like 'Bonnie and Clyde' with Brigitte Bardot(Laetitia Casta), I'm more than willing to look the other way.
Although GAINSBOURG tries very hard not to be a standard biopic, it totally is despite the presence of a really annoying "puppet" which is actually a man in a bad suit that looks like a stereotype of a Jewish rodent (this is intentional since the film purports to deal with the anti-semitism that Gainsbourg dealt with). The film is exactly like any Hollywood bio pic but unfortunately, they use little of Gainsbourg's actual music--so what is the point? They took this cantankerous fellow and examined nothing of his life or why is sometimes banal pop ditties are important. I actually love his music but the film never explores anything--not even the obvious, how did this ugly fellow get all those chicks! A few super things--Laetitia Casta, who plays Brigitte Bardot, is wonderful and never imitates but totally captures Bardot, Gainsbourg had a happy childhood with terrific parents, the hair and costumes from the 60s and 70s never look ridiculous like they usually do.
Arty, shot like a dream at times, flits between modern day and childhood. OK but not great. Forgettable.
Always nice to know the biography of the most charismatic french composer of all time. The movie is like his music, surprising at first but in the long run is a little boring. A small plus for the good performances, and some fantasy moments.
Un petit bijou inattendu!
I really liked the overall chronologic "flow" and style of the story, but many pieces of Gainsbourg's life were either glossed over or just thrown in there without introduction. However, the presentation does paint Gainsbourg as more of a "bohemian" and if events adhered more rigidly to the chronology of his life, I think that bohemian effect would be lost along with a part of the movie's magic.
Fun, fantastical and entertaining.