The frequent lighting of cigarettes and the billows of tobacco smoke that provide an almost-constant presence are tempting to the retired smoker, but watching the degeneration of French singer-songwriter Serge Gainsbourg is sufficient to remain resistant to the habit, prominent though it is in "Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life," which opens a five-day run tonight as part of the Webster University Film Series.
Joann Sfar, a highly regarded artist and designer, makes his feature film debut as writer-director with an excellent look at Gainsbourg, showing skill and imagination in both areas. The talented Gainsbourg, born Lucien Ginsburg, lived hard, smoked constantly, carried on torrid affairs with a series of attractive women like Brigitte Bardot, Juliette Greco and Jane Birkin, just to name a few who happily give themselves to the homely, often thoughtless and cruel singer and lover. Birkin is the mother of talented actress Charlotte Gainsbourg.
Eric Elmosnino is outstanding in the title role, and the actresses above are excellent lookalikes, with Laetitia Casta as Bardot, Anna Mouglalis as Greco and Lucy Gordon as Birkin. Razvan Vasilescu and Dinara Droukarura are his parents, and Vasilescu is a sheer delight when he giggles with the joy and pride of the realization that his eldest son — his pride and joy — is in the bedroom with Bardot.
Kacey Muttet-Klein plays the young Lucien with real skill and a rich display of chutzpah when he gets up early one morning and walks proudly into the German police station, so that he can be the first to wear the yellow star that the Germans forced Jews to affix to their clothing. Failing to show the talent at the piano that his father demanded, Lucien became an art student; he was maybe 10 or 11, so young that the teacher makes him turn his head away while the rest of the class studies and paints a highly nubile nude model. Lucien, peeking all the while, then convinces her to take her clothes off in a private session for the same purposes, then takes her out for ice cream. It's a delightful moment.
Gainsbourg probably was the most popular song writer in Europe through the '50s and '60s, scoring hit after hit for himself and for a variety of singers. He was in his late 30s when he won an all-Europe song contest with a piece sung by for the teen-aged France Gall, born Isabelle Genevieve Marie Anne (Sara Forestier). In 1965, he wrote, "Les Sucettes," ("the lollipops"), whose robust double-entendres caused him great difficulties when someone complained and the 18-year-old Gall claimed she did not know about the sexual connotations. She did, however, continue to sing and record his songs.
Among Sfar's directorial steps, he introduces a lifesize puppet with an exaggerated nose (think toucan at the zoo) and ears. He's Gainsbourg's conscience, or his alter ego, or his evil twin, but he adds considerable balance and interest along the way. A very fine tribute to a man of great talent.
Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life opens today at 7:30 p.m., and plays nightly through Thursday at the Winifred Moore Auditorium on the Webster University campus
—Joe