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Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life
Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life Image
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Metascore
58 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 26 Critics What's this?

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  • Summary: Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life is a completely original take on one of France’s greatest mavericks, the illustrious and infamous Jewish singer-songwriter, Serge Gainsbourg. Born Lucien Ginsburg to Russian-Jewish parents, Sfar follows him from his precocious childhood in Nazi-occupied Paris, to his beginnings as small time jazz musician and finally pop superstar. Along the way he romances many of the era’s most beautiful women, including Juliette Greco, Brigitte Bardot and Jane Birkin. Employing a witty surrealistic style and a soundtrack that includes many of the musician’s greatest hits, Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life is a quintessential time capsule to ‘60’s Paris. (Music Box Films)… Expand

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 13 out of 26
  2. Mixed: 13 out of 26
  3. Negative: 0 out of 26
  1. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Kenneth Turan
    Sep 1, 2011
    80
    Unconventional, imaginative, nothing if not audacious, Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life is a portrait of creativity from the inside, a serious yet playful attempt to find an artistic way to tell an emotional truth.
  2. St. Louis Post-Dispatch
    Reviewed by: Joe Williams
    Dec 9, 2011
    75
    It's a comedic dramatization with a looming shadow of the surreal.
  3. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Elizabeth Weitzman
    Sep 2, 2011
    60
    What the movie lacks in depth it makes up for in surreal humor, and - just as he should - Gainsbourg look-alike Elmosnino seduces us effortlessly.

See all 26 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 0 out of 1
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 1
  3. Negative: 0 out of 1
  1. MarcDoyle
    4
    I had moderately high expectations for this film after seeing the very stylish & cool trailer. However, Serge was just enough of a jerk, and his alter ego puppet was just annoying enough that the effects of the music and historical context were drowned out. Yes, Eric Elmosnino does a serviceable job as Serge, and Laetitia Casta is outstanding as Bridget Bardot. But it touches too many themes without fully penetrating the lead character's psychology and motivations. Tough to root for the guy. A couple of people in my (packed) theater gave it a round of applause, but the rest of the the group was silent.… Expand
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