Gainsbourg is a 2010 drama film written and directed by Joann Sfar

Joann Sfar

Joann Sfar is a French comics artist, comic book creator and film director.-Life and career:Sfar was born in Nice. He is considered one of the most important artists of the new wave of Franco-Belgian comics. Many of his comics were published by L'Association which was founded in 1990 by...

, based on his graphic novel

Graphic novel

A graphic novel is a narrative work in which the story is conveyed to the reader using sequential art in either an experimental design or in a traditional comics format...

. It is a biopic of French singer Serge Gainsbourg

Serge Gainsbourg

Serge Gainsbourg, born Lucien Ginsburg was a French singer-songwriter, actor and director. Gainsbourg's extremely varied musical style and individuality make him difficult to categorize...

.

Plot

The film follows infamous musician Serge Gainsbourg

Serge Gainsbourg

Serge Gainsbourg, born Lucien Ginsburg was a French singer-songwriter, actor and director. Gainsbourg's extremely varied musical style and individuality make him difficult to categorize...

's exploits from his upbringing in Nazi occupied France through his rise to fame and love affairs with Juliette Gréco

Juliette Gréco

Juliette Gréco, — also Michelle – is a French actress and popular chanson singer.-Early life and family:Juliette Gréco was born in Montpellier to a Corsican father and a mother who became active in the Résistance, in the Hérault département of southern France. She was raised by her maternal...

, Brigitte Bardot

Brigitte Bardot

Brigitte Anne-Marie Bardot is a French former fashion model, actress, singer and animal rights activist. She was one of the best-known sex-symbols of the 1960s.In her early life, Bardot was an aspiring ballet dancer...

 and marriage to Jane Birkin

Jane Birkin

Jane Mallory Birkin, OBE is an English-born actress and singer who lives in France. In recent years she has written her own album, directed a film and become an outspoken proponent of democracy in Burma.- Early life :...

 to his later experimentation with reggae

Reggae

Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...

 in Jamaica

Jamaica

Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...

.

Cast

Actor	Role
Eric Elmosnino Eric Elmosnino Eric Elmosnino is a French actor and musician of jewish origin. He is best known internationally for portraying Serge Gainsbourg in the film Gainsbourg for which he won the César Award for Best Actor....	Serge Gainsbourg Serge Gainsbourg Serge Gainsbourg, born Lucien Ginsburg was a French singer-songwriter, actor and director. Gainsbourg's extremely varied musical style and individuality make him difficult to categorize...
Lucy Gordon Lucy Gordon (actress) Lucy Gordon was a British actress and model. She became a face of CoverGirl in 1997 before starting an acting career. Her first film was Perfume in 2001 before going on to have small roles in Spider-Man 3, Serendipity and The Four Feathers...	Jane Birkin Jane Birkin Jane Mallory Birkin, OBE is an English-born actress and singer who lives in France. In recent years she has written her own album, directed a film and become an outspoken proponent of democracy in Burma.- Early life :...
Laetitia Casta Laetitia Casta Laetitia Marie Laure Casta is a French model and actress.-Early life:Laetitia Casta was born in Pont-Audemer, Normandy, France. Her mother, Line Blin, is from Normandy. Her father, Dominique Casta, is from Corsica. She has an older brother, Jean-Baptiste, and a younger sister, Marie-Ange...	Brigitte Bardot Brigitte Bardot Brigitte Anne-Marie Bardot is a French former fashion model, actress, singer and animal rights activist. She was one of the best-known sex-symbols of the 1960s.In her early life, Bardot was an aspiring ballet dancer...
Doug Jones Doug Jones (actor) Doug Jones is an American film and television actor best known to science fiction, fantasy, and horror fans for his various roles playing non-human characters, often in heavy makeup, in films and television series such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Hellboy, Pan's Labyrinth and Fantastic Four: Rise...	La Gueule (Gainsbourg's mug)
Mylène Jampanoï Mylène Jampanoï -Biography:Mylène Jampanoï was born on 12 July 1980 in Aix-en-Provence, France. She has a Chinese father and French mother. She married Indian model and actor Milind Soman in Goa in 2006. They met during the shooting of their film Valley of Flowers. The two divorced in 2009...	Bambou (Caroline von Paulus) Caroline von Paulus Caroline von Paulus is a French actress, fashion model and singer, better known by her stage name - Bambou. She was married to the French singer Serge Gainsbourg from 1981 until his death in 1991. Their son Lucien 'Lulu' Gainsbourg was born in 1986...
Anna Mouglalis Anna Mouglalis -Biography:Anna Mouglalis was born in Nantes, Loire-Atlantique, to her Greek father and French mother. She spent her youth in the Var département, before moving back to Nantes with her family. Her father is a doctor and her mother is a masseuse. Until 2001 she studied at the Conservatoire National...	Juliette Gréco Juliette Gréco Juliette Gréco, — also Michelle – is a French actress and popular chanson singer.-Early life and family:Juliette Gréco was born in Montpellier to a Corsican father and a mother who became active in the Résistance, in the Hérault département of southern France. She was raised by her maternal...
Yolande Moreau Yolande Moreau Yolande Moreau is a Belgian comedienne, actress and film director.-Biography:She has won two César Awards for Best Actress, in 2005 for When the Sea Rises and in 2009 for Séraphine....	Fréhel Fréhel Fréhel was a French singer and actress.-Biography:Born in Paris, France to a poor and dysfunctional Breton family, Marguerite Boulc'h was a child left to a life on the streets in the dark side of Paris...
Sara Forestier Sara Forestier Sara Forestier is a French actress who lives in Paris. She began her film career in 2001 and received a César Award for Most Promising Actress in Games of Love and Chance...	France Gall France Gall France Gall is a popular French yé-yé singer.Gall was married to, and had a successful singing career in partnership with, French singer-songwriter Michel Berger....
Philippe Katerine Philippe Katerine Philippe Katerine is a French singer who began his career in 1991. Some of his popular singles include "Mon coeur balance", "Je vous emmerde" and "Louxor j'adore". Given that his songs are mainly in French, he hasn't gained much popularity outside of France...	Boris Vian Boris Vian Boris Vian was a French polymath: writer, poet, musician, singer, translator, critic, actor, inventor and engineer. He is best remembered today for his novels. Those published under the pseudonym Vernon Sullivan were bizarre parodies of criminal fiction, highly controversial at the time of their...
Claude Chabrol Claude Chabrol Claude Chabrol was a French film director, a member of the French New Wave group of filmmakers who first came to prominence at the end of the 1950s...	Gainsbourg's Music Producer
Kacey Mottet Klein	young Serge Gainsbourg (Lucien Ginsburg)

Critical reviews

The film was awarded 3 César Awards on 25 February 2011 including a César Award for Best Actor

César Award for Best Actor

This is the list of winners and nominees of the César Award for Best Actor .-1970s:-1980s:-1990s:-2000s:-2010s:...

 for Eric Elmosnino

Eric Elmosnino

Eric Elmosnino is a French actor and musician of jewish origin. He is best known internationally for portraying Serge Gainsbourg in the film Gainsbourg for which he won the César Award for Best Actor....

, a César Award for Best Debut

César Award for Best Debut

The César Award for Best Debut was an award given out at the annual César Awards between 1982 and 1999...

 for Joann Sfar

Joann Sfar

Joann Sfar is a French comics artist, comic book creator and film director.-Life and career:Sfar was born in Nice. He is considered one of the most important artists of the new wave of Franco-Belgian comics. Many of his comics were published by L'Association which was founded in 1990 by...

 and César Award for Best Sound

César Award for Best Sound

This is the list of winners and nominees of the César Award for Best Sound .-Winners and nominees:*1976 : Nara Kollery *1977 : Jean-Pierre Ruh *1978 : Jacques Maumont...

. It also received an additional 8 nominations.

In the United States, the film received mixed reviews. Website metacritic

Metacritic

Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...

 assigned it a score of 57 out of 100, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Kenneth Turan

Kenneth Turan

Kenneth Turan is an American film critic and Lecturer in the Master of Professional Writing Program at the University of Southern California.-Background:...

 of The Los Angeles Times enjoyed the film:
Other critics did not think so highly of it, such as A.O. Scott of The New York Times

The New York Times

The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

: