The life and death of a French cultural hero have been recreated in a new biopic based on the brilliant but doomed musician Serge Gainsbourg.
Known abroad chiefly for the steamy sex-ballad Je T’aime, Moi Non Plus – featuring his lover and future wife Jane Birkin on heavy breathing duties – Gainsbourg has an almost mythic status in France, where successive generations continue to revere him as the ultimate rebel artist.
Until now no film-maker has dared to take on the challenge of portraying so adored a national figure – and the task has finally fallen to a man whose main trade is not film-making but bande dessinée, or comic strips.
Serge Gainsbourg – une vie heroique (Serge Gainsbourg – a heroic life) is directed by Joann Sfar, who is well-known in France and abroad for The Rabbi’s Cat series of comic books.
