Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life (original title: Gainsbourg (Vie héroïque)) is a 2010 French drama film written and directed by Joann Sfar. It is a biopic of French singer Serge Gainsbourg.
Contents
Plot
The film follows notorious musician Serge Gainsbourg's exploits from his upbringing in Nazi occupied France through his rise to fame and love affairs with Juliette Gréco, Brigitte Bardot and Jane Birkin to his later experimentation with reggae in Jamaica. It also incorporates multiple elements of fantasy, most significantly with the character called "The Mug", an animated exaggeration of Gainsbourg that acts as his conscience (or anti-conscience) at crucial moments in Gainsbourg's life. The film also includes many of Gainsbourg's more famous songs, which serve as the soundtrack to the film and often serve as plot elements themselves.
Cast
Eric Elmosnino as Serge Gainsbourg
Lucy Gordon as Jane Birkin
Laetitia Casta as Brigitte Bardot
Doug Jones as La Gueule (Gainsbourg's mug)
Deborah Grall as Lise Levitzky
Mylène Jampanoï as Bambou (Caroline von Paulus)
Anna Mouglalis as Juliette Gréco
Yolande Moreau as Fréhel
Sara Forestier as France Gall
Philippe Katerine as Boris Vian
Philippe Duquesne as Lucky Sarcelles
Grégory Gadebois as Phyphy
François Morel as The Boarding's Director
Claude Chabrol as Gainsbourg's Music Producer
Ophélia Kolb as The Model
Kacey Mottet Klein as young Serge Gainsbourg (Lucien Ginsburg)
Marc du Pontavice as Police Officer Vian 1
Notes
Lucy Gordon committed suicide while the film was in post-production, and it is dedicated to her.
It was the first job for the daughter of producer Marc du Pontavice, Lou du Pontavice, who worked as a script intern at age 17.
Critical response
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes 73% of 78 critics gave the film a positive review, with an average rating of 6.2/10. The site's consensus reads, "It might be thinly written and messily made, but Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life is also appropriately glamorous and intense -- and powerfully led by a gripping performance from Erik Elmosnino.". Metacritic gave the film a score of 58 out of 100, based on 26 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".
Kenneth Turan of The Los Angeles Times enjoyed the film:
Unconventional, imaginative, nothing if not audacious, Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life is a portrait of creativity from the inside, a serious yet playful attempt to find an artistic way to tell an emotional truth... the songwriter's life is heroic because he lived deeply in his own imagination and did continual battle with the personal demons who shared that space with him... Screenwriter Sfar's final word on his difficult, fascinating man is "I prefer his lies to his truth," his dreams to his reality. It's not hard to see why.
A.O. Scott of The New York Times gave it a mixed review:
[M]uch of the best and worst of Gainsbourg— the chat show provocateur and the charismatic performer — can be found on Internet video sites, which makes Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life feel a bit superfluous. Its forays into his private life, including a brief, intense affair with Ms. Bardot and a long, tumultuous relationship with Ms. Birkin, are more dutiful than revelatory. And how can Ms. Casta and Ms. Gordon, both nimble actresses (and quite beautiful), be expected to measure up against real-life goddesses whose images remain ubiquitous and irresistible? The puppets and the music make Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life engaging, but it is also visually hectic and lacks either the dramatic intensity or the arresting insight that might have lifted it out of the pedestrian realm of the admiring biopic.
Accolades
The film was awarded 3 César Awards on 25 February 2011 including a César Award for Best Actor for Eric Elmosnino, a César Award for Best First Feature Film for Joann Sfar and César Award for Best Sound. It also received an additional 8 nominations.