Back in 1988, in testimony before Congress, one of Hollywood’s most successful, beloved and influential filmmaker-moguls expressed deep concern for a disturbing trend sweeping the movie industry. “People who alter or destroy works of art and our cultural heritage for profit or as an exercise of power are barbarians,” this filmmaker said, “and if the laws of the United States continue to condone this behavior, history will surely classify us as a barbaric society.” Damn straight, George Lucas .
The bold, relatively brief life of Serge Gainsbourg, the French singer, songwriter and svengali who died in 1991, is twice removed from the story told by Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life . First-time writer and director Joann Sfar has said that polishing the fine points of that life — ceding to biographical “truth” — was of no interest to him. A top-flight fan and best-selling comic book artist, Sfar was intent on avoiding the brash outlines of a biopic in favor of a certain sort of homage, the tender evocation of style and personality in place of strict chronology and narrative arc. A parallel determination to inhabit his hero’s life with an intensely personal, interpretive gusto bends the film back into a more conventional shape; the big moments play out with the giddy gratification of fan fiction. Both abstract and very specific, Sfar’s inspirations abound such that they frequently overshadow those of his subject.
