Serge the seducer shows how it’s done in Gainsbourg

10 April 2012

I want to live in Joann Sfar’s visually ravishing biopic of the songwriter, seducer and provocateur Serge Gainsbourg.

Every window gives a peerless view of Paris, every woman is chic, beautiful and available, and the sense of period and Gallic panache is so potent you can almost feel the Gitane smoke bite your eyes.

This is a beautifully dream-like debut by Sfar, a comics artist, even if it slightly overstates its case and outstays its welcome. And it’s anchored by bravura performances from Kacey Mottet Klein, who plays Gainsbourg as an adolescent, and Eric Elmosnino, who plays him from 20 to his death at 62 in 1991.

Gainsbourg is chiefly remembered for the controversy-baiting duets he recorded with nymphettes including his daughter Charlotte and with his lovers Brigitte Bardot and Jane Birkin. Oh, and for inventing designer stubble.

But Sfar characterises his careless hedonism as heroic rebellion. As a Jewish boy in occupied Paris his precocious cheek is a riposte to very real danger, and to his parents’ conservatism. Later sexual and artistic conquests represent triumph over his perceived ugliness and mediocrity.

He is accompanied throughout by an etiolated, beaky and bat-eared alter ego, who has elements of Nazi caricatures of Jews but also of an elegant, urbane maestro.

The film has a ripe, grown-up eroticism as rich as the sumptuous costumes and sets. But Gainsbourg, the eternal brat, refuses to grow up.

It becomes progressively harder to accept him as a martyr as he serially abandons and alienates lovers and children, or smokes himself into a coronary. Even Sfar’s visual flair begins to pall when Gainsbourg’s head, near the end, turns into a cabbage.

There’s arguably more style than substance here, but ah, what style. The same probably goes for Serge himself. And apparently it was our own Jane Birkin who got him to cultivate his stubble.

She’s well played here, with gamine steeliness, by Lucy Gordon, who killed herself last year. A great shame.

Gainsbourg
Cert: 15

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in