You just don't see guys like him anymore — and if you did, he wouldn't be on the guestlist of your next party. Serge Gainsbourg, the eternal enfant terrible of the Parisian culture scene who died in 1991 at the age of 62, has been resurrected on screen by French filmmaker Joann Sfar.
Born and bred in Nice, Sfar spent his entire boyhood enthralled by Gainsbourg — best known for the song "Je T'Aime ... Moi Non Plus" ("I Love You ... Me Neither") — and, as soon as he could, relocated to Paris to be near his idol. A month after his move and before he could figure out a way to improve his chances of bumping into Gainsbourg on the street, the famed Renaissance man, who dabbled in most art forms from painting to music to movies, died of a heart attack.
Sfar then divested the next 20 years in chasing after the dream of making a Gainsbourg biopic. According to the film's production notes, he didn't want to make something accurate and dry — he wanted "Gainsbourg" to be an undying tribute and a soulful interpretation of (in his eyes, anyway) the coolest French artist who ever sipped Calvados in an early-morning cafe.