Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life (Vie héroïque), Directed by Joann Sfar

By Ann Clarke

Being a diehard Serge Gainsbourg fan, I have wanted to see this film since I heard it was being made like three to four years ago. It was just so long overdue!

Eric Elmosnino as Serge Gainsbourg
Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life, 2010

Many biopics suck, but that’s usually because they are about people who aren’t even that interesting or they are poorly cast and scripted. Sometimes they suck because the person in question was not only an asshole in the limelight, but even worse in private. Serge Gainsbourg embodies those traits to a degree, but that depends on your definition of an asshole. In many ways he was, but at least he was an interesting asshole! What I will give him credit for over many other dead asshole celebrities: he lived out loud. His antics were never candy-coated. He did what he did, and didn’t really give a fuck about how it was received—but, he actually DID care (he just didn’t let the world know that he did).

So what did I think of this highly anticipated film? Cinematography-wise, it was sexy and beautiful. It was also extremely well-cast. The actor who played Serge (Eric Elmosnino) is a dead-fucking-ringer for Serge, without even trying. You get so focused watching him, it’s hard to realize that it’s not actually Gainsbourg himself! The only physical difference is that Elmosnino is thinner. The child actor they used for Serge in adolescence (Kacey Mottet Klein) was absolutely adorable and hilarious, too. Maybe I’m fucked up, but watching a little kid smoke cigarettes makes me laugh.

I also quite liked the movie’s use of Serge’s alter ego, and how it takes on two forms (a fat, oversized head which then turns into a spindly and charismatic devil on his shoulder, so to speak). The interaction between Serge and his alter ego egging him on to come out of his shell and do all of the things that one would only fantasize about, was one of the coolest things about the film.

However, all of the the film’s segues involving a revolving door of women were too vague. It’s not even clear as to who some of the women even were, or why they were no longer with him. The only woman whose story had a concrete structure was Jane Birkin (played by the late Lucy Gordon). Yes, Jane was clearly the most prominent muse and true love that Serge ever had, and at least the film made it clear as to why Jane eventually left him.

The rest of the women (especially the ones in the beginning) are ambiguous. For instance, Serge has sex with a gorgeous brunette he meets in an art class; apparently they end up a couple, and you see snippets of their life together (i.e., her encouraging him to teach a music class), you get the hint that all is well, and then suddenly he talks about not being attracted to her, the soundtrack cuts to a song about a fat woman, she’s shown crying in the dark, and that’s the last you see of her.

In the very next scene, Serge gets hit on by some singer (it’s never revealed who), and the blonde woman sitting next to him in the audience is visibly upset. You figure out that the blonde is his wife, and that it’s later in the timeline, but the jump cut leaves many questions like, “Who the hell is this woman?” The movie alludes to the fact that Serge’s mother seemed to hate her, too, but never tells you why! What was wrong with this woman? The film doesn’t tell you much, other than the woman would drive Serge to his gigs and he’d leave her waiting all of the time. It’s clear she is jealous, and it’s also clear that she has every reason to be; his career is taking off, he’s suddenly in high demand, and surrounded by gorgeous women!

Juliette Greco (Anna Mouglalis) and Serge Gainsbourg

I guess the final straw with her character is when she drives him to meet Juliette Greco, played by Anna Mouglalis (late at night, to talk about music—yeah, right), and she is clearly upset by this. Serge gets half-seduced by Juliette Greco (and his alter ego eggs him on to pounce on her) but it’s interrupted by the wife, and Serge then leaves with the wife. It’s ambiguous as to whether or not he and Greco ever had an affair or not, but as he leaves, she watches him out the window singing “La Javanaise.”

The film then cuts to Serge having young women all over him (because he’s famous at this point). Then he’s commissioned to write for France Gall (played by Sara Forestier). The exchange between Serge and France is funny because her career is really clean cut, and she insinuates that she wants to do more grown-up stuff, but her dad is her manager. Serge states that he can write a song about a girl that loves sucking lollipops (he’s totally referring to the infamous song “Les Succettes”) and she insists that’s just kid stuff.

Anyone who has ever heard that song knows its the definition of a double entendre! You don’t even have to know how to speak French in order to figure that out! So France goes on to sing “Baby Pop” and the movie cuts to a naked woman bouncing up and down in front of Serge singing the song, too! After a confrontation with a neighbor about all of the noise coming from his flat, we suddenly see Brigitte Bardot (played by Laetitia Casta) strutting up the hallway with an Afghan Hound. Within minutes, he’s fucking Bardot, and pretty much just as quickly, she is out of his life!

Brigitte Bardot (Laetitia Casta) and Serge Gainsbourg

When Jane Birkin emerges in the picture it’s the only relationship that blossoms to fruition, and its debut and ending are just as clear. There isn’t any reason to question anything in that part of the film, since it fills in all the blanks. They clearly had an incredible relationship and she was the only woman over whom Serge ever showed any possessiveness. The part where he gets jealous over Jane working with Alain Delon in a film is very telling as to how insecure Serge was about his looks. It didn’t help that the media always pointed out how physically ugly he was, and how baffling it was that he romanced so many gorgeous women. That is why the aforementioned alter ego character is so prominent; Serge won’t take risks unless he is goaded on by the alter ego who doesn’t care about his looks!

When Serge is settled with Jane, he tells the alter ego to take a hike, mainly because he finally felt secure in his life. However, once the alter ego is gone, Serge starts to crumble, and ruins everything in his personal life from that point on. Instead of interacting with the alter ego, he drinks more and does drugs to overcompensate for insecurities. He also rebels musically with ideas that aren’t fleshed out in a responsible way (i.e., re-recording the French National Anthem with a Reggae band, which was apparently insulting to both the musicians, and the French citizens—Serge was looked at as a traitor). Between the dangerous risks and unstable emotional behavior, it’s obvious why Jane leaves him. He is just too unpredictable and a possible danger to his children (Charlotte Gainsbourg and his stepdaughter, Kate Barry).

Jane Birkin (Lucy Gordon) and Serge Gainsbourg

Here’s when the film begins to wrap up. We see Serge drunk and disorderly in a nightclub, where he meets his final female companion, a wayward girl named Bambou (played by Mylène Jampanoï). Serge is a real fucking mess at the end, and has certifiably turned into a creep. He’s pushy and demanding, and even though Bambou resists him at first and calls him out on his bullshit, she eventually gives in. The film ends with Serge and Bambou welcoming the birth of their son (who he names Lucien, Serge’s birth name).

Overall, I liked Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life, but as long as it was, it could’ve filled in more blanks instead of creating them. The meat of the story felt like it was presented abruptly, and then ripped away just as quickly.