Gainsbourg

“Gainsbourg” is a unique biography of a young Jewish boy named Lucien (Eric Elmosnino), who has to deal with living in France during World War II. He eventually grows up to become the famous singer-songwriter and very good artist named Serge Gainsbourg. Director Joann Star tried to tell Serge’s life story in a creative and unique fashion. Serge’s life has not been an easy one, but he was able to live a full life. This movie won two 2011 Cesar Awards and Eric Elmosnino won a Best Actor Award for his role in this movie during the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival.  

 The things I did enjoy in this movie were the visuals and the soundtrack. Even though most of the movie did not make any sense to me and some parts were too abstract, the movie’s visuals were very unique and interesting to watch. I liked the intro and the fact that whenever Lucien drew a character, they would come to life as an imaginary friend for him. The whole movie was in French, with English, subtitles and this was a bit distracting for me and took away from some of the movie’s emotion, but the soundtrack made up for it. The music added a lot to the movie and it was very fitting because of the jazz feel with a French vibe. Both elements worked pretty good together to make for an interesting viewing experience. I just wish the rest of the movie did as good a job.

The things I didn’t enjoy about the movie were the characters, the plot, the pacing. I found it difficult to relate to any of the characters and ended up not really caring what happened to them by the end of the movie. The plot for this movie felt non-existent. An hour into the movie and I still was not sure what was going on or what was the whole point of the movie. Lastly, the movie’s pacing was so slow that I fell asleep 2-3 times and had to go back and re-watch what I missed. The visuals and the soundtrack were the only things saving this movie, but they were still not to prevent “Gainsbourg” from getting a “D.”