So what was his problem???


I couldn't help wondering just what was Gainsbourg's issue that led to him self destructing. His parents seemed to love him, he didn't seem to be too much the victim of the Nazi's, he was very talented and successful, he had a string of loving supportive women throughout his life, the adoration of fans didn't seem to go to his head. I don't claim to know his complete story but the film just didn't seem to provide a reason for him being such a bastard. Where was the inner conflict that may have given rise to his unresolved 'issues'? The only recurring motif was that maybe he had a big nose and big ears!

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That is a totally valid question!And I agree with everything you wrote.

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The only recurring motif was that maybe he had a big nose and big ears!
You've pretty much answered your own question right there. The opening scene shows a young Gainsbourg being spurned by a girl who tells him "You're too ugly!" The scene is a reference to the self-loathing that haunted him all his life. It fed his self-destructive behavior and it sabotaged his relationships because he found it difficult (impossible?) to believe anyone could truly love the hideous monster that he thought he was. That's why he was so devastated by the death of his dog: he had lost the only companion whose love he didn't doubt.

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Okay well I guess it takes all sorts. If this is the case then I find his personal issue / inner conflict / debilitating emotional crisis.......underwhelming. But maybe I'm just being uncharitable.

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Your attitude towards Gainsbourg is not unreasonable. It's hard to feel a lot of sympathy for someone who wallows in self-pity. Towards the end of the film, Gainsbourg's mother says she can't understand why he never got his ears fixed. I think the implication was that Gainsbourg became dependant upon his self-hate. It fueled him, and he wouldn't want to fix it even if he could.

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The film hints at mental illness (depression, bipolar, or borderline personality) that he self-medicated with excessive alcohol and cigarettes. Self-loathing on this scale does not come only from perceived physical defects or the internalized antisemitism from which he no doubt suffered.

One flaw I found in the film is that it did not portray the mental illness and addictions that ruined his life and ended it prematurely with any sort of clinical understanding. I guess it would have been too easy to go to the other extreme and present an overly-medicalized portrait of an alcoholic. The film-maker chose to "mystify" the subject with poetic tropes such as the personified alter-ego. I think it would have served the subject better if some knowledge about mental illness, addiction, and alcoholism had been applied to this biopic, without falling into clinical jargon or propaganda. However, it was still an interesting and innovative film that I would recommend to all music-lovers and Francophiles.

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The film-maker chose to "mystify" the subject with poetic tropes such as the personified alter-ego. I think it would have served the subject better if some knowledge about mental illness, addiction, and alcoholism had been applied to this biopic, without falling into clinical jargon or propaganda.


I didn't like the use of the grotesque alter-ego; it became distracting after a while.

While Gainsbourg was an interesting subject, I don't think the film gave us any real insight into him as a person. The film seemed to be a collage of different states of his persona. I also didn't like how it jumped from one scene to another. I wanted to know more about the time he was sent away as a child because of WWII. How did he cope? Where were his parents and sisters at the time? All this wasn't answered. We're just shown that he and his parents survived the war. We never see his sisters again either.

He also jumped from one woman to another. One minute he's married with two young children, then he's with someone else, then he's having an affair with Brigitte Bardot. What happened to his first wife--we're never shown. At the end, he's with someone other than Jane Birkin; again we're not shown any of the relationship, and suddenly they have a child.

Although the film was creative at times, it wasn't a satisfactory look inside Gainsbourg's life. It lacked cohesion and came across as chaotic storytelling.

I like Joann Sfar's graphic novels, but I think he should stick to those and not film.








"And all the pieces matter"

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Although the film was creative at times, it wasn't a satisfactory look inside Gainsbourg's life. It lacked cohesion and came across as chaotic storytelling.
I can see where you're coming from and it's a perfectly valid complaint by anyone who watches this film because they're curious about Gainsbourg. I believe, however, that the film is intended for people who are already very familiar with the main details of Gainsbourg's life. For an audience such as this, spelling out the well-known details would get in the way of the artful conjecture on what made Gainsbourg the man he was.

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I've just watched the film for a second time, having first seen it at the cinema some time ago. I can't say I've ever known much about Gainsbourg's life, but I like the rather quirky way this film was made. It did hint at a bipolar personality, full of arrogance and self-doubt. Though I don't know much about him, I think the more unusual telling of his inner life worked - there was joy as well as misery. I'm not sure I know much more about the man or his problems and why they occurred, but I was riveted and entertained by the story and the way it was told.

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The grotesque alter ego took over the movie and destroyed the film for me, and so I only gave the flick one point. Really. Everything else was great, but that "persona" was just beyond crass.

Were the alter ego presented in a different fashion, then perhaps I would have looked in a more compassionate manner at Gainsbourg and how he dealt with his inner demons.

I guess the filmmakers or someone in the making of the film (aka The Powers That Be) finally realised that the way the alter ego was done was damaging the film, so I noticed that the filmmakers did away with the alter ego near the end.

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The film hints at mental illness (depression, bipolar, or borderline personality)
It's been awhile since I saw the film but I don't think I can agree with that, nor with your suggestion that epic self-loathing is indicative of mental illness. I think the film presented Gainsbourg as a complex, flawed person who did not deal with his issues very well. I'd ascribe that more to immaturity than mental illness.

Perhaps you're interpreting the grotesque alter-ego ("la Gueule") as a sign of mental illness? I can imagine how the Gueule might remind some people of schizophrenia or, at least, the "hearing of voices." But they should consider that this is a French film for a French audience who are as familiar with Gainsbourg as Americans are with Elvis Presley. If the filmmakers expect their audience to have any interest in such a well-worn story they need an imaginative new way to tell it. Hence, la Gueule.

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