Serge Gainsbourg (vie héroïque)

[pro-bassoonist]

Serge Gainsbourg (vie héroïque) (2010) has received a preliminary release date for the Gallic markets: May 20. Courtesy of Studio Canal.

Screen International:

A wildly creative take on the life of notorious French composer, lyricist and provocateur Serge Gainsbourg, Gainsbourg (vie heroique) is splendidly cast and consistently engaging. Prolific cartoonist Sfar’s first feature as writer/director skillfully melds Gainsbourg’s uppity inner child, self-destructive behaviour and prodigious talent with a rousing approach to the societal weight of being — and looking — Jewish.

With excellent music, rebellious energy and beautiful naked women to spare, little would seem to stand in the way of the film’s success except, perhaps, misguided indifference towards its subject. Eric Elmosnino’s incarnation of the chain-smoking iconoclast who died in 1991 at the age of 62 is uncanny.

Heavy on imagined elements as well as documented highlights, Sfar’s film boasts a Euros 16m budget ($23.1m) - substantial for a French first feature – which is all on screen and in the soundtrack. With sales to some 30 countries, including Optimum in the UK, Prokino in Germany and Hopscotch in Australia, Gainsbourg (vie heroique) is still awaiting a US deal in the one territory where Gainsbourg is little-known.

Young Serge (Kacey Mottet-Klein) is depicted as a compulsive artist and illustrator who yearns to be a great painter. An irreverent whippersnapper in Occupied France, he is seen contacting Nazi officials to insist on a yellow star of his own. Whether this actually happened or not, it’s a fine way to establish that Gainsbourg can’t resist flaunting authority and is congenitally incapable of playing it safe - qualities that would distinguish his music, from the simulated female orgasm of steamy ditty Je t’aime…moi non plus to his scandalous reggae version of the French national anthem.

Saddled with a hooked nose and prominent ears and painfully aware of his own unattractiveness, adolescent Serge quickly perfected a knack for talking to women, starting with the nude model in his life drawing class. Sfar makes the gutsy decision to give the boy an enormous, clingy alter ego, La Gueule or Ugly Face, a sort of giant talking potato with legs which lumbers after him. Twenty minutes in, Elmosnino takes over as the adult Gainsbourg and Ugly Face grows into a lanky, more elegant sidekick with preying mantis type limbs and a lengthy beak. (Doug Jones is excellent inside the mask and costume.)

The film assumes that viewers can identify key figures in French pop culture circles including Juliette Greco (Anna Mouglalis), Brigitte Bardot (Laetitia Casta), France Gall (Sara Forestier) and Jane Birkin (the late Lucy Gordon, who killed herself in the summer of 2009 and to whom the film is dedicated). Gordon captures Birkin’s breathy delivery and breaking glass singing voice while a pulpy, uninhibited Casta is a delight as Bardot, who recorded several indelible hits and starred with Gainsbourg in iconic clips to illustrate them.

As Gainsbourg abandons painting, finds success as a songwriter and profits from the freewheeling societal changes of the 1960s, falling for Bardot and Birkin along the way, he continues to be dogged by Ugly Face and the nagging hurts he represents. While the film never completely loses steam, it feels far heavier toward the end because Gainsbourg himself grew increasingly dissolute.

Production design spanning the 1940s through the ’80s, has the ring of truth and Guillaume Schiffman’s photography is a major plus. Nearly every scene is bathed in smoke, but leaving out the cigarettes would be like making Sid And Nancy without any drugs.

Sfar has an animated feature based on his multi-volume hard-backed comic The Rabbi’s Cat due this summer but this debut alone gives him immediate credibility as a director.

Pro-B

[Konrad]

A first day purchase for me! I am a huge Gainsbourg fan. Hope they did it right!

[linke]

thanks

[Moviefan1203]

Will this be English friendly pro-bassoonist?

[Kynch]

High res artwork:

[Show spoiler]

[McCrutchy]

Black BD case = fantastic!

[Kynch]

You know it...

Special FNAC Edition with a bonus DVD and 30 pages from the book "Feuille du Chou":

[McCrutchy]

Originally Posted by Kynch

You know it...

Special FNAC Edition with a bonus DVD and 30 pages from the book "Feuille du Chou":

[donaldducklovesme]

The french Amazon version, anyone know if this is subbed english or dutch?

[pro-bassoonist]

The disc you have linked to appears to be the French release.

Pro-B

[Q?]

I find this fascinating, will have an eye out for this.

[MARXTHEDUDE]

Am pretty desperate for this, particularly the Special Edition with the booklet. In the UK we don't get this in cinemas until June 30th so quite a wait for the blu-ray!

Anyone know yet in ANY blu-ray releases will be English subbed?

[pro-bassoonist]

Originally Posted by MARXTHEDUDE

Anyone know yet in ANY blu-ray releases will be English subbed?

Good evening,

It appears that the French release will offer French SDH subtitles only. This said, I believe that there is a very good chance that the UK will get a BD release.

By the way, if you have never seen this film (see below), you should. Optimum copied the French Canal release not too long ago (without the extras from the SE), and it looks lovely. One of the guilty "classics" of my time



UK release:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/TAime-Moi-No...5282226&sr=1-2

French release:
http://www.amazon.fr/Je-taime-moi-no...5282429&sr=8-4

Pro-B

[MARXTHEDUDE]

Originally Posted by pro-bassoonist

By the way, if you have never seen this film (see below), you should. Optimum copied the French Canal release not too long ago (without the extras from the SE), and it looks lovely. One of the guilty "classics" of my time



UK release:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/TAime-Moi-No...5282226&sr=1-2

French release:
http://www.amazon.fr/Je-taime-moi-no...5282429&sr=8-4

Pro-B

Thanks pro-bassoonist!

Yup! I own this and even own the ultra rare "Charlotte For Ever", a very very strange but interesting film! Need to get the other Serge movies, but finding them subbed might be tricky!

Did you notice the dog from "Mon Plus" is in "Gainsbourg (vie héroïque)"? Well not the actual one of course but you can see him in the trailer! Must've been a dog Serge and Jane both owned! (see attatched)

I guessed the French Universal release would not be English subbed, too many distributor's yet to release it in their terrortories! Optimim have it here so hopefully it'll have the French extras but doubtful about the elegant packaging or booklet :-( Not sure I can wait five months to own this either!

Do you own the two disc "D'autres Nouvelles Des Etoiles"? Fascinating stuff, even if the DTS mix is largely redundant on them as near all the source material is mono bounced thru each channel. But still WELL WORTH owning!

[pro-bassoonist]

Originally Posted by MARXTHEDUDE

Thanks pro-bassoonist!

Yup! I own this and even own the ultra rare "Charlotte For Ever", a very very strange but interesting film! Need to get the other Serge movies, but finding them subbed might be tricky!

Did you notice the dog from "Mon Plus" is in "Gainsbourg (vie héroïque)"? Well not the actual one of course but you can see him in the trailer! Must've been a dog Serge and Jane both owned! (see attatched)

I guessed the French Universal release would not be English subbed, too many distributor's yet to release it in their terrortories! Optimim have it here so hopefully it'll have the French extras but doubtful about the elegant packaging or booklet :-( Not sure I can wait five months to own this either!

Do you own the two disc "D'autres Nouvelles Des Etoiles"? Fascinating stuff, even if the DTS mix is largely redundant on them as near all the source material is mono bounced thru each channel. But still WELL WORTH owning!

Good afternoon MARXTHEDUDE,

I do not own D'autres Nouvelles Des Etoiles, though I have been meaning to add it to my collection for quite awhile now. In fact, if I am not mistaken, that release went OOP once already, so it is probably time that I get it.

I recently purchased the SE DVD of Slogan. Quite a disappointing release, as it isn't anamorphically enhanced, so hopefully a French distributors puts up a nice BD in the future (I am fairly certain there are no HD materials at the moment).

Pro-B

[MARXTHEDUDE]

Originally Posted by pro-bassoonist

Good afternoon MARXTHEDUDE,

I do not own D'autres Nouvelles Des Etoiles, though I have been meaning to add it to my collection for quite awhile now. In fact, if I am not mistaken, that release went OOP once already, so it is probably time that I get it.

I recently purchased the SE DVD of Slogan. Quite a disappointing release, as it isn't anamorphically enhanced, so hopefully a French distributors puts up a nice BD in the future (I am fairly certain there are no HD materials at the moment).

Pro-B

Does make you wonder tho?? I agree that "Mon Plus" was a pretty flawless transfer for it's age, bar the odd neg-marking. Would upgrade to HD quite easily I'would have thought.

Well worth investing in "D'autres Nouvelles Des Etoiles"; over five hours of material with optional sub-titles for the interviews.
As I say tho, don't expect any fancy mixing on the 5.1. tracks! Just mono bounced out of all channels, no stereo here but still, better then a front-of-stage affair I guess.

Will invest in "Slogan" methinks. Want to get "Anna" and "Stan The Flasher"...quite intrigued by that one!

[MARXTHEDUDE]

Saw the film today! Really loved it!

Not at all what you'd expect but in a very good way. It's very surreal and fairytale-like, the kind of film Serge would've made himself.

It will soar on blu-ray too! Beautiful visuals and the music truly zings, particularly on the "Nazi Rock" sequence with the surrounds and sub-bass leaping to life!

Definatley one to own!

[jedilips]

Now I really hope this gets a US or UK English-friendly release.

[MARXTHEDUDE]

Originally Posted by jedilips

Now I really hope this gets a US or UK English-friendly release.

It should do. Optimum release all their current titles on blu-ray the same time as DVD release in the UK, tho do occasionaly region-lock.

Such a wait tho bearing in mind UK cinemas don't get it until July 30th, placing the home release in late Autumn!

I really can't wait to own this! The sound mix was truly beautiful, particularly on the closing scenes.

And on a more shallow level HD Laeticia Casta? I might just buy the non subbed French blu-ray for that alone!

And that packaging!!! The UK disc will have none of that!