It's great to see a biopic that strays off the usual path.
The association of Joann Sfar, reknown comic book author and Gainsbourg seemed a strange match to me at first (although I'm sure it's all down to a lack of knowledge on my part).
Seeing a comic book author come to making film is also unusual.
Yet after seeing this movie, it all makes sense and I have been much impressed by Sfar's work, as a 1st time director. He managed to infuse his movie with his sensibilities far beyond all the drawings you see on screen, as Gainsbourg paints, clearly bearing Sfar's mark.
There's genuine inventivity in his direction and although it IS a real movie (not a conceptual mess as other artists can tackle the medium) you can feel his comic book origins throughout.
It's movie that works more as an experience than a story, not because the story's poor (there's more than enough material in Gainsbourg's life), but because it's what Sfar wants.
And it's a stimulating one.
And it's very subtle with a lot of events (and famous songs) just referred to.
In a sense, it's what any biopic should do: not TELL you everything you should know about the subject, but inspire you to go and find out more about it.
And the movie does that beautifully by blurring lines between reality and dream.
It's suported by an outstanding cinematography (again, for a 1st timer, the effects are brilliant) and by an amazing cast.
They all managed for me to portray those icons I've seen "for real" as I indeed remembered them, from Gainsbourg to Birkin, to Bardot...
Gainsbourg himself, because of his "gueule" (as the movie states it) wasn't a specifically likeable character, yet he was a compelling one and the feeling is perfectly conveyed here.
I was disappointed to see that, at the end, Sfar had to show a message as a disclaimer to explain why he took this approach. As far as I'm concerned, the movie speaks for itself and I respect his choice even more so that I liked them.
But I guess the general public would need this, which makes me slightly sad.
But this has nothing to do with the movie anyway.
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