''Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life'' (original title: ''Gainsbourg (Vie héroïque)'') is a 2010 French

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

written and directed by

Joann Sfar Joann Sfar (; born 28 August 1971) is a French comics artist, comic book creator, novelist, and film director. Life and career Sfar was born in Nice, the son of Lilou, a pop singer, who died when he was three, and André Sfar, a lawyer well know ...

. It is a

biopic A biographical film or biopic () is a film that dramatizes the life of an actual person or group of people. Such films show the life of a historical person and the central character's real name is used. They differ from docudrama films and histo ...

of French singer

Serge Gainsbourg Serge Gainsbourg (; born Lucien Ginsburg; 2 April 1928 – 2 March 1991) was a French singer-songwriter, actor, composer, and director. Regarded as one of the most important figures in French pop, he was renowned for often provocative rel ...

Plot

The film follows notorious musician

's exploits from his upbringing in Nazi occupied France through his rise to fame and love affairs with

Juliette Gréco Juliette Gréco (; 7 February 1927 – 23 September 2020) was a French singer and actress. Her best known songs are "Paris Canaille" (1962, originally sung by Léo Ferré), "La Javanaise" (1963, written by Serge Gainsbourg for Gréco) and "Désh ...

Brigitte Bardot Brigitte Anne-Marie Bardot ( ; ; born 28 September 1934), often referred to by her initials B.B., is a French former actress, singer, and model as well as an animal rights activist. Famous for portraying characters with Hedonism, hedonistic life ...

and

Jane Birkin Jane Mallory Birkin ( ; 14 December 1946 – 16 July 2023) was a British and French actress, singer, and designer. She had a prolific career as an actress, mostly in French cinema. A native of London, Birkin began her career as an actress, ...

to his later experimentation with

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica during the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its Jamaican diaspora, diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay", was the first ...

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

. It also incorporates multiple elements of fantasy, most significantly with the character called "The Mug", an animated exaggeration of Gainsbourg that acts as his conscience (or anti-conscience) at crucial moments in Gainsbourg's life. The film also includes many of Gainsbourg's more famous songs, which serve as the soundtrack to the film and often serve as plot elements themselves.

Cast

* Eric Elmosnino as

* Lucy Gordon as

Laetitia Casta Laetitia Marie Laure Casta (; born 11 May 1978)FMD profile
Retrieved 4 December 2009. is a ...

* Doug Jones as La Gueule (Gainsbourg's mug) * Deborah Grall as Lise Levitzky *

Mylène Jampanoï Mylène Jampanoï (; born Lena Jam-Panoï; 12 July 1980) is a French actress, model, and visual artist. Her first leading role was in the drama film '' The Chinese Botanist's Daughters'' (2006). She subsequently garnered international attention ...

as Bambou (Caroline von Paulus) *

Anna Mouglalis Anna Mouglalis (; ; born 26 April 1978) is a French actress and model. She is known for being a house ambassador for Chanel since 2002, and for portraying the fashion designer Coco Chanel in the 2009 film '' Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky'', and a ...

Yolande Moreau Yolande Moreau (born 27 February 1953) is a Belgian comedian, actress, film director and screenwriter. She has won three César Awards from four nominations. Career She made her cinematic debut with director Agnès Varda in two movies: Sept pi� ...

Fréhel Fréhel (; born Marguerite Boulc'h (); 13 July 1891 – 3 February 1951) was a French singer and actress. Biography Born in Paris to a poor and dysfunctional Breton family, Marguerite Boulc'h was a child left to a life on the streets in the s ...

* Sara Forestier as

France Gall Isabelle Geneviève Marie Anne Gall (9 October 1947 – 7 January 2018), known professionally as France Gall, was a French ''yé-yé'' singer. In 1965, at the age of 17, she won the Eurovision Song Contest 1965, tenth edition of the Eurov ...

Philippe Katerine Philippe Blanchard (; born 8 December 1968), known professionally as Philippe Katerine, is a French singer-songwriter, actor, artist, director and writer who began his career in 1991. Some of his popular singles include "Mon cœur balance", "Je ...

Boris Vian Boris Vian (; 10 March 1920 – 23 June 1959) was a French polymath who is primarily remembered for his novels. Those published under the pseudonym Vernon Sullivan were bizarre parodies of criminal fiction, highly controversial at the time of th ...

Philippe Duquesne Philippe Duquesne (born 30 June 1965) is a French actor. Career He is best known for playing in the cult TV series '' Les Deschiens'' (1993–2002). In 2004, after the end of the show on Canal+, Yolande Moreau, his partner on screen, hired ...

as Lucky Sarcelles *

Grégory Gadebois Grégory Gadebois (born 24 July 1976) is a French actor. Career Before his career as an actor begin, he worked as a mover. He studied at the CNSAD in the class of Catherine Hiegel and Dominique Valadié. He was a member of the Comédie-França ...

as Phyphy * François Morel as The Boarding's Director *

Claude Chabrol Claude Henri Jean Chabrol (; 24 June 1930 – 12 September 2010) was a French film director and a member of the French New Wave (''nouvelle vague'') group of filmmakers who first came to prominence at the end of the 1950s. Like his colleagues an ...

as Gainsbourg's Music Producer *

Ophélia Kolb Ophélia Kolb (born 1982) is a French actress. Career She was nominated twice to the Molière Award for Best Supporting Actress, winning in 2019 for her role in '' The Glass Menagerie'', directed by Charlotte Rondelez. Theater Filmogr ...

as The Model *

Kacey Mottet Klein Kacey Mottet Klein (born 20 October 1998) is a Swiss actor. Life and career Kacey Mottet Klein was born in Lausanne to an American father and a Swiss mother. He made his screen debut in 2008, in Ursula Meier's ''Home'', for which he won the Swi ...

as young Serge Gainsbourg (Lucien Ginsburg)

Notes

* Lucy Gordon committed

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...

while the film was in

post-production Post-production, also known simply as post, is part of the process of filmmaking, video production, audio production, and photography. Post-production includes all stages of production occurring after principal photography or recording indivi ...

, and it is dedicated to her.

Critical response

On review aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

73% of 78 critics gave the film a positive review, with an average rating of 6.2/10. The site's consensus reads, "It might be thinly written and messily made, but ''Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life'' is also appropriately glamorous and intense -- and powerfully led by a gripping performance from Erik Elmosnino.".

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

gave the film a score of 58 out of 100, based on 26 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Kenneth Turan Kenneth Turan (; born October 27, 1946) is an American retired film critic, author, and lecturer in the Master of Professional Writing Program at the University of Southern California. He was a film critic for the ''Los Angeles Times'' from 1991 ...

of ''

The Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper in the U.S. and the larges ...

'' enjoyed the film: A.O. Scott of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' gave it a mixed review:

Accolades

The film was awarded 3

César Awards The César Award is the national film award of France. It is delivered in the ' ceremony and was first awarded in 1976. The nominations are selected by the members of twelve categories of filmmaking professionals and supported by the French Min ...

on 25 February 2011 including a

César Award for Best Actor This is the list of winners and nominees of the César Award for Best Actor (). History Superlatives Winners 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s Multiple wins and nominations The following individuals received two or more Best ...

for Eric Elmosnino, a

César Award for Best First Feature Film Cesar or César may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''César'' (film), a 1936 French romantic drama * ''César'' (play), a play by Marcel Pagnolt Places * Cesar, Portugal * Cesar Department, Colombia * Cesar River, in Colombia * Cesar ...

for

and César Award for Best Sound. It also received an additional 8 nominations.

References

External links

* {{César Award for Best First Feature Film 2010 films 2010s French-language films Biographical films about musicians Biographical films about singers British biographical drama films British rock music films French rock music films Biographical films about Jewish people Drama films based on actual events Films set in the 1940s Films set in the 1950s Films set in the 1960s Films set in the 1970s Films set in the 1980s Films set in the 1990s Universal Pictures films French drama films Musical films based on actual events Best First Feature Film César Award winners Serge Gainsbourg Films with live action and animation Cultural depictions of Brigitte Bardot Cultural depictions of rock musicians Cultural depictions of French people Films produced by Marc du Pontavice Films directed by Joann Sfar 2010 biographical drama films 2010 directorial debut films 2010s British films 2010s French films English-language biographical drama films