MovieChat Forums > Gainsbourg (Vie héroïque) (2010) Discussion > Such a rip off...

Such a rip off...

posted 14 years ago by FreeFallFlow
16 replies | jump to latest

I just saw this movie and i'm pretty angry that i actually paid to see that.
The actor playing Serge is really convincing, but the movie is just a pain in the ass, with a clumsy mise en scène, ridiculous ideas and poor renditions. I checked my watch three times, wondering it there would be any "take off". Nope.

The biggest mistake made in my opinion was the very unaesthetical animated caricature of Gainsbourg, his "double", following him (way too much) during the whole movie. So ugly and out of place. This is not an animated movie, for god's sake!

I don't know, it's hard to list all the annoyances i've felt during the whole movie, but there were too many of them...The caulliflower impression, the awkward situations where you feel like you're caught up in a soap-opera..Lots of bad ideas and in the end a lame, very lame "tribute" to a major figure in French musical landscape..

It doesn't take just one (good) actor that looks like Gainsbourg to make a good movie about him...It also takes a director with interesting ideas and a bit of seriousness, which is really lacking here.

And once again i gave money for a piece of sh**. Nice!

[–] mizhelenuk 14 years ago

The character of 'La Gueule' isn't animated - the character is played by a real actor using prosthetics designed by the Oscar-winning team from DDT Efectos Especiales.

Sorry you didn't like the film - it was never intended to be a straight-forward biography, but was intended to reflect not just the way the world perceived Gainsbourg but also how he perceived himself.

http://www.thedougjonesexperience.com

[–] 14 years ago

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[–] renzopiano 14 years ago

BB was annoying.
And now she's just a despicable person , so to be bothered by her is actually allright.

[–] endecottp 14 years ago

Just saw it at Tribeca Film Fest and was mostly bored. Needs severe editing, could cut a good 30 minutes. I agree with you the lead guy was good but film dragged and never takes off.

[–] badlydrawnhamster 14 years ago

I'm amazed by the negativity, I saw it tonight and loved it. It was inventive, fresh, funny and touching, and I'm really looking forward to the director's next project now.

[–] Ambrosia-I 14 years ago

I saw it yesterday and really enjoyed the film's humour and surrealism. I especially liked the opening credits - the cartoon with Serge and the smoking fish. It's a good thing it wasn't meant to be a straight biopic because I came out of it not knowing much more about Serge Gainsbourg than I did before I went in, but that didn't stop me loving the whole experience. Eric Elmosnino who played Serge was wonderful in the role and bore an uncanny resemblance to him. I also very much liked the actor who played Serge's father who seems to have been almost as strange as Serge himself.

[–] eerwicker 14 years ago

I thought it was beautiful and funny film, and its style and tone matched Gainsbourg's own aesthetic pretty well. The caricature was a fantastic device, creepy but rather melancholy, and the "Jewish" caricature from the early scenes was effective too. Thank Christ they didn't inflict a straightforward, Walk The Line-style biopic on us.

A fine central performance, and the kid who played the young Gainsbourg was pretty astonishing too - almost made me wish they'd done the whole film about his childhood.

And the opening credits were, as has already been said on this thread, a work of art in themselves.

Get out as early as you can
And don't have any kids yourself

[–] Cessquill 13 years ago

I agree totally, although I still adore Walk the Line.

The surreal aspects kept me enthralled, through what could have just been a trawl through the facts of somebody's life.

Drink more, and watch more World Cinema, as I'm guessing the OP was expecting a tick-the-boxes American biopic.

[–] echo_echo 14 years ago

you have practically criticized all of the most original, interesting and creative aspects of the film.

[–] carmencapel69 14 years ago

I personally loved "the mug" and I loved the film. There arent just two types of films, animated/not animated, film is art and therefore the creator is free to use his own tools to create a metaphor for Serge's "darker side"/alter ego, what ever you wanna call it.

You have obviously chosen to limit the film to your own personal expectations, but some of us actually appreciate a bit of fantasy and metaphors in movies.

[–] Mat-37 14 years ago

The opening credits, a work of art indeed, are by Jeremie Perin, who since then went on to direct videos for French artists like Flairs, Syd Matters, Chicros... (check youtube)

- A point in every direction is the same as no point at all.

[–] cornelia123 14 years ago

Yeah I personally loved the 'mug'. I think this film grows on you, and is better on second viewing.

Shame they didn't include the Whitney Houston episode...

[–] bostonfilmfan 12 years ago

It's not a biopic, but rather a fantasy on a life of an artist who was busy creating his own legend all his life and was indeed a legend while still alive. What if the film had a subtitle: "a fairy-tale based on the life of SG". Would it make it easier to appreciate the film? For me, the opening credits served as such a subtitle.

"caulliflower"? Oh no, that was a cabbage (look up Gainsbourg's album L'Homme à tête de chou) ;)

[–] Kareneeni 13 years ago

What do you think it ripped off?

[–] ikke_for_let 13 years ago

Wouldn't want to be stuck in a room with LoveBurns.

[–] 12 years ago

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