Fan Sculpture of La Gueule

(music by Serge Gainsbourg - Requiem pour un con)

Facebook Fan Page member and artist, Pierre Reischek, has created a bust-size sculpture of La Gueule, the fantastical alter ego of Serge Gainsbourg, played by Doug Jones in Joann Sfar's Gainsbourg (vie héroïque). The above video documents each step of the process that went into this creation and below are Pierre's preliminary sketches for what would became his sculpture.

Soirée Gainsbourg Amsterdam!

On March 17, 2010, Oh-la-la – Franco à gogo presents Soirée Gainsbourg! at the Bitterzoet club in the heart of Amsterdam. It will be a celebration of Serge's music commemorating the opening of Gainsbourg (vie héroïque) in theaters across The Netherlands. Music for the evening will include all sorts of Gainsbourg classics, remixes, mash-ups, covers, and more provided by:

DJ Natashka (Oh-la-la) - aka Natasha Cloutier of Oh La La spins French-language music from the 1950s and 1960s as well as modern pop and dance music on both vinyl and CD. She regularly plays at various Dutch venues and increasingly more in Belgium, as well as having appeared in Germany and her native Québec, Canada. DJ Natashka has been organising unique French music parties in Amsterdam for more than two years. She has been featured in Dutch and English-language magazines and newspapers on the French music scene in the Netherlands and her advice is called upon for music compilations, French-related events and remixes.

"I got into Gainsbourg's music with the albums 'Comic strip' that a friend of mine had and 'Mauvaises nouvelles des étoiles' that played often in its entirety at a bar I hung out at when I still lived in Montréal, Québec. I knew more about his scandals than his music, and kind of ignored him along with Brel, both of which I got into much later than everyone else and can't get enough of today. I was so much into industrial music back then that I knew Einstürzende Neubauten's version of 'Je t'aime, moi on plus' before the original."

DJ Guuzborg (Filles Sourires) - 'I was a lucky kid. My parents went on vacation to France every year, where I could hear the exotic, yet strangely familiair French pop music on the radio. As a teen, I had a female French teacher who helped understand that French is in fact the language of love (had to do with raging hormones too),and as an adult I had the pleasure of talking to several great artists who gave me tips on great French music - the guys in Air for instance insisted I'd buy the soundtrack to Cannabis. This was proof that Serge Gainsbourg made a lot more than the world's most famous sextrack. After Cannabis came Melody Nelson and the rest of his oeuvre, plus a search for beautiful French girls, making me sigh. The blog FillesSourires.com was a natural step, as were the compilation-cds Filles Fragiles and Gentils Garçons, to show the world that French music still has a lot to offer. But the opus magnum was Gainsnord, a tribute to great man himself by Dutch and Belgian bands.  On cd and on stage. And there's more to come.'

Live performances by:

• Flora Dolores and Les Spinshots

• Serge van Duijnhoven (poet and writer)

• La Secte Citron (theatre and music)

• Paris-Maastricht (music)

Soirée Gainsbourg
Bitterzoet 
2 Spuistraat
1012 TS Amsterdam
020 - 42 123 18
Entry: €10


Additional Info:
On Oh-la-la
On Bitterzoet
On Filles Sourires
On Facebook

Gainsbourg in Angoulême: A Fan Review

Comic illustration enthusiast Ellen Lindner has an outstanding critique of Joann Sfar's Gainsbourg (vie héroïque) from the Angoulême International Comics Festival, which is Europe's largest of its kind (comparable to ComicCon here in the states).

Lindner's unique perspective comes as a long time follower of Sfar's work and counters many of the jabs thrown at Sfar by many traditional film critcs by saying, "Drawing from Fellini and a love both of Serge and of the French chanson tradition, Sfar has created a film which is entirely "sfarien", and nothing to be ashamed of."  

Although I haven't seen the film, this is entirely what I expect to see from it, and moreover, all films. When I'm looking at art, I want something to identify who created it (aside from the artist's signature).  If anything, I'd be extremely disappointed if this picture didn't celebrate Sfar's background as an illustrator, a Jew, and a "fanboy" or someone wanting to educate today's generation of who Serge was and his importance to/place in the culture.

From Ellen's account (which you can read in it's entirety by clicking here) it sounds like I won't be disappointed.

Jane Birkin With Our Favorite French Canadian: Full Video Interview

A few weeks ago, we posted a clip of French Canadian journalist Catherine Beauchamp's interview with Jane Birkin, former wife of Serge Gainsbourg and mother of Charlotte Gainsbourg, in which they discuss Serge, Charlotte, Gainsbourg (vie héroïque), and Jane's own acting career among other things.  See the full video interview below.

(via Youtube)

...and make sure to visit Le Tapis Rose de Catherine.

Review of the Day: There's Something About Serge

You absolutely MUST READ Carolyn "France-in-Your-Pants" Heinze's commentary on Serge Gainsbourg and her review of Gainsbourg (vie héroïque) over at the fashion blog, Running In Heels.  It is, perhaps, the most well-written and insightful look into how the French view Serge Gainsbourg and provides a "no-holds-barred" critique of Joann Sfar's film that will have you laughing the entire way through.

(via Carolyn's Blog)

Excerpt:

"He was easy enough to pick out. Even in the grim grimy-greasy jaundiced not-so-flattering subterranean Métro light. Oh, it was him all right – no doubt about it. Or a fabulously finely-formed facsimile thereof. His profile, pitched in a precisely preconceived profile of a pose, the enormous ear, the prominent nose. His chin – smooth, not yet his signature unshaven chin— juts serenely, sagely, slightly upturned. The lips, sensual-soft, poised in mid-exhale. As if he were singing. Or smoking. No mistaking him, this finely-formed facsimile of one of France’s most famously infamous artists, one of the Fifth Republic’s most notorious agents provocateurs, the man who flipped la chanson française upside down and inside out and right side in and right side up all over again. He was Serge Gainsbourg."

To read the full post on Running In Heels, click here.

Remembering Lucy Gordon

Many thanks to Nimrod and Asher Schif for posting this photo/video tribute to Lucy Gordon on their blog, Word Power.

(via Youtube)

Interview With Joann Sfar on Belgian Television (Video)

Here's an amazing video interview with Gainsbourg (vie héroïque) Writer/Director Joann Sfar from Tuesday's episode of "Mille-Feuilles" on the Belgian television station, RTBF2. Exploring the subject of his background in illustration, the opening panel discusses the illustrated publications based around the film (Sfar's Gainsbourg (Hors champ) & Mathieu Sapin's Feuille de Chou" Sfar makes some great comments on his transition from comic-book author/illustrator to feature-film director.  There's also some great unseen clips from the film in addition to the writer/director/illustrator at work on the set. Enjoy!

(via Youtube)

Charlotte Gainsbourg on Amplified: Dealing with Daddy Issues? (Video)

In this great in-depth video interview for Amplified, ABC World News contributor Dan Harris sits down with Charlotte Gainsbourg, the daughter of legendary duo, Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin.  The singer and actress talks about her near-death experience leading to a collaboration with Beck on her new album, IRM (which was produced and mostly written by Beck), and also speaks candidly about her "daddy issues" saying it's extremely difficult for her to write her own songs because of who her father was and all that he accomplished.

(via Amplified on Vimeo)

Charlotte was originally asked by Joann Sfar to portray her father in Gainsbourg (vie héroïque) and after months of consideration, she backed out because she felt she'd be unable to emotionally go through with it.  It certainly would've been interesting considering all the acclaim she's been receiving from her Cannes-winning performance in Lars Von Trier's Anti-Christ.

However, according to most critics, Éric Elmosnino is certainly proving that he wasn't such a bad second choice.

Student Tribute to Serge Gainsbourg (Video)

I'll have to admit, other than Gainsbourg (vie héroïque) earning nearly $8M at the box office in less than 3 weeks, in addition to the film's opening last week in Belgium, there isn't much "breaking news" to report about the film. So for today, enjoy the video below of a touching tribute to Serge Gainsbourg from a group of elementary school students in France and feel free to let the tears flow (found via new friend of the blog, Melanie Mendelewitsch).

 On est venu te dire qu'on t'aime bien

Lyrics:

On est venus te dire, qu'on t'aime bien
Et tes provocations n'y changent rien
On se fout des excès, côté Jardin
Nous c'est les mélodies, qu'on aime bien.

The Success of Joann Sfar: From Illustrator to Director

(watercolor from the film)

Check out this wonderful in-depth piece by Mad-Dog on LePost about Joann Sfar and Gainsbourg (vie héroïque), from the perspective of a long-time Joann Sfar fan.  Mad-Dog discusses everything from Sfar's days at Pixar up to the release of his debut film. There are also some stunning examples of his illustrative work in addition to a sketch by Mathieu Sapin, which you can see below. To read Mad-Dog's full article in French cliquez ici and in English click here.

  

(from "Carnets" by Joann Sfar)

 

(from Mathieu Sapin's "Feuille de chou")

A Unique Critique of Gainsbourg (vie héroïque): Video

This is my favorite review to pop up in my inbox thus far.  Check out the video below and have some good laughs (even if you don't speak French) courtesy of Ruru and Ségo (Rudolphe Pignon and Ségolène Alunni) at La Boulevard de la Critique.

Joann Sfar and Mathieu Sapin: Behind the Scenes (Video)

Before filming began on Gainsbourg (vie héroïque), Writer/Director Joann Sfar invited fellow comic illustrator Mathieu Sapin to accompany the cast and crew on their adventure over the next four months to document the daily events throughout the film-making process. After filling sketchbook after sketchbook, his behind-the-scenes illustrations were released on January 20, 2010 in the form of a book entitled "Feuille de Chou (Journal d'un tournage)" which should make any fans of Gainsbourg, comic illustration, and any behind-the-scenes film buff, jump for joy.  See 4 sample pages below (click pic to enlarge).

Sfar and Sapin sat down for an interview at FNAC Montparnasse to discuss the the film, book, and everything that went into making Gainsbourg (vie héroïque).  Watch the 3-part video below (sorry, only in French).

Part 1/3

Part 2/3

Part 3/3

Additional links:

Feuille de Chou on the Gainsbourg Official Site

Mathieu Sapin's blog

Jane Birkin on Gainsbourg: Video Interview

(via YouTube)

Catherine Beauchamp from Le Tapis Rose de Catherine has just posted a new video interview with Jane Birkin, the former wife of Serge Gainsbourg and mother of Charlotte, giving her thoughts on Joann Sfar's new film about the life of her ex-husband.  See prior video coverage from Catherine here and here.