Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life

It's one thing knowing the history of his famous song "Je t'aime" - it's quite another when you see the lyric displayed before you by way of a subtitle! No wonder it was banned - and no wonder he, and his publisher, knew exactly what buttons to press amongst the prudish establishment to maximise the success and publicity is would attain. That success is somewhat down the line, though, for the eponymous character (Eric Elmosnino) who lived his relatively short life to the full. He was in his teens when the Nazis occupied Paris and those experiences were to set a template for the future of this strong-willed Jewish lad who, at that stage, just wanted to be a painter. Oddly enough, he owed much of his survival throughout that period to an SS officer and after the war he jumped ship to become more of a stage performer. Sometimes quite comically, but usually impactfully, his decisions are all egged-on by his own, personal, full-sized demon whom we all see gradually guide him down the path of carpe diem. His unique style of music is curiously successful, sometimes despite itself - but his personality ensures that his private life is anything but. His relationships start out as impassioned affairs, but never prove sustainable for long before he is looking for his next affaire d'amour. Elmosnino is on top form delivering this entertaining caricature of a chain-smoker full of joie de vivre and excess - except where it came to his parents, the last vestige of some sort of anchor for his otherwise boundary-less existence. The presentation is almost fantastic, we see him live what purports to be reality whilst also visualising the goings on in his mind - a lively, vibrant and eccentric place; and though director Joann Sfar acknowledges the roles of Jane Birkin (Lucy Gordon) and Brigitte Bardot (an effective Laetitia Casta) in his life, they don't overwhelm the underlying depiction of a charismatic, flawed and intriguing individual who really only thought of his own satisfaction throughout his adult life.