Too much of everything

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

The best aphrodisiac for ambitious women is cash. Serge knew the secret to unlocking cash. Women wanted to know Serge to unlock him. So he could unlock cash for them. (Les Saucettes was The Mega Trolling of the 20th century)As a first generation immigrant from Russia, I can easily identify with Serge's parents. From the parent's prospective - the film is spot-on about struggles of the second generation immigrants. Kids torn between two cultures. Not the poor-basketball-playing-refugee kind. But the over-educated middle class kind. Cursed with sensitive nature. Trying to fit in. And giving up.Serge had given up. And killed himself slowly. That's the story.

Captivating biopic directed by French director, novelist, comics artist Joann Sfar.If Gainsbourg was a river that ran deep in your world, if he was part of your cultural fabric, you will fall in love with the film, grateful that he has been recreated—beautifully—, that you can spend two hours in his company again, trying to puzzle out what happened to him. I loved witnessing once again the remarkable eloquence of this man of letters, his musical and poetic genius, his cutting wit, cheekiness, poker face, understated singing style, the subversiveness that was present from the outset, his vulnerability, his antics, drunken debauchery, quiet rage, the ears, the hooter, the string of alluring and high-profile women...Each episode blends into the next seamlessly - a rare feat in a biopic.I loved witnessing the love with which one artist, Sfar, paid homage to another.A feast.

Diane and I had much the same opinion of this film: we thought that it was far too mannered for our taste and that the substance of this man's life could have been presented, directionally, more staid. During the film I kept thinking of Baz Luhmann's Moulin Rouge, another movie that was too mannered. It just goes to show how much people's taste varies because I sat through the movie and left wondering what I had seen; what was all the fuss about? I did not find out much of substance about the guy or his background or sequential events in his life. As a viewer, if you are looking for a minor biographical look at this man's life then buy a book. If on the other hand you don't mind seeing a Picassoesque rendering of Serge Gainsbourg's life then this movie is for you—enjoy!

Based on a graphic novel by the director (Joann Sfar), 'Gainsbourg' charts the tumultuous life of Lucien Ginsberg, the precocious son of Russian-born Jews (who settled in Paris at the time of Germany's occupation of France), who gained fame and notoriety for his music, muses and mercurialness.Played with remarkable confidence by Kacey Mottet Klein, the young Ginsburg passes through school smoking and drawing lewd pictures of the female models he adores, and intellectually evading Nazi wrath (he pretends he is friends with Goebbles to avoid wearing the yellow star).His skill as a lyricist and pianist is recognised and he is given his new persona: Serge Gainsbourg (Eric Elmosnino). His fame quickly skyrockets as does his appeal to famous ladies of the 1960s: Brigitte Bardot (a sultry Laetitia Casta), the bohemian Juliette Gréco (Anna Mouglalis, fresh from her role as Coco Chanel) and the English singer/actress, Jane Birkin (Lucy Gordon, who tragically committed suicide before the film's release).At various points in the film Gainsbourg is joined by La Gueule ('The Mug'), his alter ego and everything he is not: daring, debonair, devil-may-care. Although I was intrigued by this peculiar, gangly figure, whose ears are emphasised and whose nose is ridiculously long and aquiline (a reference to Ginsberg's insecurity), the surrealism of this character seemed to detract from Elmosnino's performance and therefore quickly seemed bathetic. This is Sfar's first stab as a director, so he was bound to make dubious judgements. The biggest one was casting Elmosnino as the lead. The part is too big for him. There's a very claustrophobic atmosphere and interiors are generally only partly shown, which is perhaps a reflection of Gainsbourg's insularity.When I read about how influential Serge Gainsbourg was, how many genres he experimented with and what inspired him to pen and feature in the famously lascivious song, 'Je t'aime… moi non plus' ('I love you... me neither'), I thought I was in for a real treat. Watch this film and you may come away thinking the man was nothing but a self-effacing, odd- looking, quasi-talented musician who was prone to unexpected blubbering and who was liked, bizarrely, for those qualities which he himself was insecure about.www.scottishreview.net