Fluentiama Perfect cast and a good story

PodBill Just what I expected

Nessieldwi Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

Brendon Jones It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

ptb-8 This smoky snazzy superficial look at the life of sex and song of Serge Gainsbourg and the women he seduced is a fairly interesting movie. However at 130 mins it can do with a haircut. In fact most everyone in the film could have done with one, or at least a comb. All bohemian, lazy, sleepy and ennui soaked, we get to see how boy Lucien Gainsbourg morphed from butterfly child into Serge the Caterpillar adult with his 'charms' exuding Gallic sex appeal to some very famous pop culture women. His comic book songs are really just bubblegum and the Bonnie Parker song of 1967 is a ridiculous moment in radio junk. I remember these songs from 42 years ago and all this film did was remind me how silly the songs were... like something from a BEACH PARTY drive in movie but with Serge and Brigitte pouting and spouting at each other. The Jane Birkin years are far more interesting but the film slides into maudlin parody of what is becoming a boring indulgent man by the 2 hour mark. Seeing him flopping around a disco is tragic and boring. The use of a puppet as his alter ego is a terrific device. The film is well made and overall a few blips above interesting. The shattering news that actress Lucy Gordon suicided at age 28 casts a really dark heartache over the film. Remember those awful Euro pop songs of the 60s like Blue Blue My love Is Blue... well we are in a bio about a man who wrote songs just a bit better than that. It all just reminds you to see Euro pop flicks like BARBARELLA again. If you go into this willing to float along with it, then you will be satisfied.

thisissubtitledmovies The life and death of a musical legend is always a good excuse to make a film of grandeur. Even better if the deceased is as bizarre and sensual as the French social rebel Serge Gainsbourg. Serge Gainsbourg: Vie Heroique is the directorial debut from Franco-Belgian comic book writer Joann Sfar, slipping excessive imagination and the odd animation into the already overflowing glass of Gainsbourg's life story.The risqué lyrics of 'Je T'aime...Moi Non Plus', Brigitte Bardot enigmatically singing "SHEBAM! POW! BLOP! WIZZ!" in 'Comic Trip', Gainsbourg dancing with his fingers across pianos and guitars, and, of course, the comic viewing of old alcoholic Serge slurring in clubs beside young hipsters. What the film lacks in biographical detail it makes up for in the precocious glamour of Gainsbourg. It's probable that nobody could ever quite retell his life with the splendour that it deserves, but Sfar has certainly painted a video in a language that we can all understand. NM

angus-logan This is a film that makes no bones about the ultimate squandering of Serge Gainsbourg's talents in a drink - induced decline but at the same time shows the creative and cultural force that his very surname still brings to mind for most French people . The movie brings out particularly well the smoky atmosphere of jazz clubs and gigs where the young Serge first plied his musicality in the 1950s. The phases of his life, from young Jewish boy in occupied France through his creative life and personal life ( for instance )amours with such as Brigitte Bardot and Jane Birkin in the 1960s are dizzily but effectively handled . There is some attempt by Director Sfar to portray Gainsbourg , in late career , as something of an anti- intolerance man of principle but the overall impression given is of an imaginative , somewhat amoral figure whose life was ultimately an example of artistic decline and hedonistic self-indulgence . The film is rather long but, overall , sustains interest well . The main roles are all played well by the actors ,including the female leads Laetitia Casta and the late Lucy Gordon , and the cartoon - like features of the movie , such as Serge's giant alter-ego , impressionistically contribute something positive to the story . Viewers from Anglophone countries who will best remember Gainsbourg as the singing half of the 1969 heavy- breathing pop hit " Je t'aime moi non plus " may still leave the cinema wondering what really was the artistic importance of Serge . Yet they will nonetheless , on the strength of this bio-pic , carry away an image of the principal character as an unforgettable personality .French people , on the other hand , who already regard him as a cultural icon and , in their terms ,as a genius will not need this movie to make up their minds about Serge Gainsbourg .

patemdens A film "should always have a beginning, a middle and an end but not necessarily in this order" declared Jean Luc Godard. Yoan Sfar grabs this motto with both hands in his biopic of legendary artist Serge Gainsbourg. His film is quirky, light fun and captivating. The visuals take reference and influence from Pan's Labyrinth, Luis Bunnuel and Lewis Carol. Still, there is a very personal flair and the mark of a future visionary film maker as important as Jean Pierre Jeunet. Yoan Sfar is clearly in awe of the subject and by surfacing the rich, complex and probably excessive life of Serge Gainsbourg, he manages to make light of a troubled artist. The acting is top-notch from everyone involved, Anna Mouglalis as sultry Juliette Greco to Laetitia Casta as the one and only Brigitte Bardot and not to forget Lucy Gordon (who tragically died shortly after the film wrapped)as vulnerable Jane Birkin. Eric Elmosnino is utterly convincing as Serge, capturing ticks and manners we french are so familiar with from Serge Gainsbourg. The man's artistry is beyond doubt and there isn't a media that Serge Gainsbourg touched that didn't turn into a creative gold pot. This is paid tribute to very well here, both in terms of cinematic language and the content of the film. I was kept fascinated, absorbed and amused even if I disagreed with a few story plots, for example, I am not sure France Gall had any idea what she was singing about with "les sucettes (Lollipops) until the song had been a hit and she refused to leave her own flat for months after because she was so ashamed by the true meaning of the song, although the film suggests Serge asking her if he can write a kinky song for her. But all the same, we, as stimulated spectators, cannot help but concede to the fact that 5 other films could be made on the legend that Serge Gainsbourg was, not one would get to the core of the real man. So treat this film as a personal homage from a fan and watch it purely for entertainment value. A good idea after could be to grab a glass of red, sit down, "Youtube" Serge Gainsbourg and enjoy the ride...