(English title: ''I Love You, Me Neither'') is a 1976 feature film written, directed, and scored by

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 ...

, starring

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, ...

, Hugues Quester and

Joe Dallesandro Joseph Angelo D'Allesandro III (born December 31, 1948) is an American actor and Warhol superstar. He was a sex symbol of gay subculture in the 1960s and 1970s, and of several American underground films before going mainstream. Dallesandro star ...

, and featuring a cameo by

Gérard Depardieu Gérard Xavier Marcel Depardieu (, , ; born 27 December 1948) is a French actor. An icon of French cinema, considered a world star in the same way as Alain Delon or Brigitte Bardot, he has completed over 250 films since 1967, most of which as ...

Plot

A frail and love-starved young woman, Johnny (Jane Birkin), works in a truckstop café in the middle of nowhere. One day two gay truckers enter, manly and worldwise Krassky (Joe Dallesandro) and his younger lover Padovan (Hugues Quester). Padovan is young and handsome, but immature and rather a handful. Krassky, tired of taking care of Padovan, who keeps getting into trouble, discovers in himself an attraction for this boyish girl. She in turn falls head over heels for him. They start a relationship; though Krassky hesitates before the meager feminine graces of curveless Johnny, he ends up being charmed by her naïve and unconditional love. She is willing to accept anything out of love for him, including anal sex. Although inexperienced at this, so that her screams of pain cause them to be thrown out of several motels. In the end, the back of Krassky's dirty garbage truck will be the theatre of their union. Furiously jealous, Padovan tries to kill Johnny by suffocating her. Krassky intervenes and saves Johnny, but does it so casually that Johnny gets enraged and insults him. Krassky then returns to his first love and leaves with him, abandoning Johnny to her café, brokenhearted and lonely once again.

Cast

as Johnny *

as Krassky * Hugues Quester as Padovan *

Reinhard Kolldehoff Reinhard Kolldehoff (29 April 1914 – 18 November 1995) was a German film actor. He appeared in 140 films between 1941 and 1988. He was born and died in Berlin, Germany. Selected filmography * '' The Gasman'' (1941) - Polizeibeamter (uncr ...

as Boris *

as man on horse * Jimmy Davis as Moïse * Maïté Nahyr as prostitute *

Liliane Rovère Liliane Rovère () (born 30 January 1933) is a French actress. Personal life Liliane Rovère was born Liliane Cyprienne Cukier. Of Jewish origin, she hid in Catholic institutions under a fake name during the German occupation of France in World ...

as motel client *

Michel Blanc Michel Blanc (16 April 1952 – 3 October 2024) was a French actor, writer and director. He is noted for his roles of losers and hypochondriacs. He is frequently associated with Le Splendid, which he co-founded, along with Thierry Lhermitte, ...

as worker * Claudia Butenuth as customer

Background and production

was the first film directed by Gainsbourg. It took its title from his song "" and stars Jane Birkin, his partner, who performed the song with him in a scandal-provoking 1969 release. Dallesandro, cast as Krassky, was known for his muscular build. Depardieu appears briefly as a gay local. The film's themes of sexual freedom and the ultimate unachievability of all-encompassing love are typical of the 1970s and of Gainsbourg's work.

Release and reception

Released in France on March 10, 1976, the film was panned in reviews as immoral and did poorly, but was defended by French cinephiles including

François Truffaut François Roland Truffaut ( , ; ; 6 February 1932 – 21 October 1984) was a French filmmaker, actor, and critic. He is widely regarded as one of the founders of the French New Wave. He came under the tutelage of film critic Andre Bazin as a ...

. It was released on video by the independent label Western Connection in 1994, and in the mid-2000s it was released on DVD. A restored version was released in the United States in 2019. Film 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 ...

reports a 91% approval critic response based on 11 reviews, indicating "Fresh" and an average score of 8.0/10.

References

External links

* 1976 films Gay-related films Films directed by Serge Gainsbourg Films produced by Claude Berri French LGBTQ-related films Films about male bisexuality Films scored by Serge Gainsbourg 1970s French films 1976 LGBTQ-related films {{LGBT-film-stub