REVIEW: DVD Release: Gainsbourg

Film: Gainsbourg
Release date: 10th January 2011
Certificate: 15
Running time: 122 mins
Director: Joann Sfar
Starring: Eric Elmosnino, Lucy Gordon, Laetitia Casta, Doug Jones, Anna Mouglalis
Genre: Drama/Biography/Musical
Studio: Optimum
Format: DVD & Blu-ray
Country: France/USA

Gainsbourg is brought to life in circumstances as unusual and creative as the man himself. Directed by Joann Sfar, a comic book writer making his directorial debut, Gainsbourg (Vie héroïque) is essentially an adaptation of Sfar’s graphic novel of the same title. Sfar mixes live action with animation and fantasy sequences and Eric Elmosnino takes the title role as the booze addled ladies man who changed the face of French music.

The film begins with Gainsbourg as a child (played by Kasey Mottet Klein), at this point he is known as Lucien Ginsburg, and is scolded by his father for making mistakes while playing the piano. Mozart he isn’t, and that’s the point in the scene, we are not dealing with a musical prodigy with an instinctive flair and passion to play the piano, rather with a boy for whom music is a means of expressing his vibrant, irrepressible imagination.

With the Nazis on their way into France, young Lucien is taken out of Paris and sent to a boarding school where, as a Jew, he can be protected from persecution. With his art and an imaginary friend, a multi-limbed and enormously headed Jew/creature from a Nazi propaganda poster, for company, Lucien begins to express himself as never before, becoming increasingly detached from reality.

The next time we see him is as an adult: he still paints, he plays piano in bars to make a living, and he is still absorbed in his own imaginings - his imaginary friend now being a hideous caricature of his own identity whom he calls his “ugly mug.”

The rest of the film is a flowing and dream-like, booze soaked journey through Gainsbourg’s musical and artistic career as he struggles with his separating identity, and goes through an endless succession of beautiful woman as fast as his cigarette supply, courting controversy wherever he goes…


From the opening credits alone, it is clear that Gainsbourg oozes artistic flair. A surreal animated sequence which features Serge Gainsbourg swimming, cigarette still lit, through schools of fish (also smoking) and underwater cities. It is a mesmerising sequence which makes it clear from the outset that the film is a celebration of the artistry of Gainsbourg, the power of his imagination.

From stylish interiors to avant-garde fashion, from impromptu songs to surreal animated sequences, Gainsbourg is a celebration of art. The visuals are used not only to put across Gainsbourg’s story in an intriguing, hypnotic way; but to paint the picture of a man struggling with the overwhelming power of his own imagination. His inability to concentrate on one thing for too long, because his mind inevitably takes him somewhere else, leads to a disintegration of most of his relationships, as well as, initially, a confusion about how best to focus his artistic prowess - to be a painter or a musician. His ‘ugly mug’ provides not only comedy in the sheer lunacy of his presence, but an unsettling horror in his grotesque appearance. It is suggested throughout that he is the devil on Gainsbourg’s shoulder, constantly leading him in the wrong direction. He is also suggestive of a split personality, particularly in one scene when Gainsbourg visits the home of a young singer, France Gall. While Serge goes to one side of the room and attempts to seduce and corrupt the innocent young girl, his ‘ugly mug’ is at the opposite side playing the piano for her father. This reveals an interesting aspect of Gainsbourg’s character - it is not that his lust for female companionship is getting in the way of his music, rather it is his artistic drive which is getting in the way of the lust which is central to his being.

As interesting as the diverse and experimental stylistic techniques Sfar employs are, they do present a problem. By packing the film so full of musical sequences and psychedelic departures, it becomes quite difficult to follow - we lose track of which woman Gainsbourg is with, how many children he has, where he is, and how many years have passed since the last scene. This is clearly deliberate on Sfar’s part, as the point seems to be to examine the inner workings of the mind of a great artist rather than to provide a traditional life story. The problem is the film is structured, for the most part, in the standard format of the biopic. We see Gainsbourg as a child, the early development of his career and most of the important moments in his life, and while excluding his death from the film is effective in maintaining the power of his influence, there is a lack of clarity to these events of the film, which becomes distracting. Sfar seems to have been caught somewhere in between traditional biopic, surrealist comedy and Felleni’s 8 ½, and while his artistic flair and solid source material means he comes close to striking the perfect balance, there are too many sequences which frustrate to consider it a resounding success.

All of this is a shame as there is a lot to like about the film. Eric Elmosnino is terrific, not only bearing a striking physical resemblance to Gainsbourg, but capturing his genius, his instability and his arrogance in equal measure.

The music is, of course, excellent and having characters break into song with full musical accompaniment gives a sense of how Gainsbourg formed his music - creating complete musical arrangements in his head and launching straight into them. Indeed, there is a lot to be learned from Gainsbourg about the nature of art, how it is formed, how the process goes from visualisation to realisation. What we do not learn, sadly, is enough about Serge Gainsbourg.


A truly innovative, mesmerising film from a first time director with a penchant for great visuals. Gainsbourg is a fascinating portrayal of a great artist. The film may lack the focus to rank amongst the great biopics of our time, but remains a treat for the eyes and mind. Innovative and difficult to follow in equal measure, Serge Gainsbourg would no doubt have approved. PK