In this day and age it appears that there are fewer and fewer characters in the world of film, music, art etc. We live in a world of ever- increasing layers of homogenous blandness. Back in the day however, there existed true spirits of creativity. Serge Gainsbourg was one such spirit.

Gainsbourg was a poet, song-writer, musician, actor and filmmaker. And of course being French, also a lover. He was, in short, the epitome of cool. So much so that even though he could never be considered an attractive man, he managed to swoon some of the most beautiful women of his generation, including Bridget Bardot.

In keeping with the extraordinary life that he led, Gainsbourg the film is far more than your bog-standard biopic. It covers his early years as a youth, where he would walk fearlessly through the Nazi-occupied streets of 1940’s Paris; to his later years where he develops his unique relationship with words and music, as well as those with the opposite of sex.

Where it differs from other biopics however is in its ingenuity in translating the man’s life to the screen. At one point, we are introduced to an almost-but-not-quite alter ego of Gainsbourg, who appears as a life-sized puppet. He follows Gainsbourg (Eric Elmosnino) virtually everywhere he goes, offering his views whether asked for or not.

You know this doesn't count as breakfast in bed, right?

The film sees the directorial debut for French comic artist Joann Sfar, based as it is on his own graphic novel. The fact that he’s a novice at directing certainly frees him up creatively when it comes to the biopic genre. However this is somewhat of a double-edged sword too, as ultimately his inexperience also shines through. None more so than with the film’s ending. For starters, it leaves far too many loose ends dangling; Gainsbourg died in 1991, but the film makes no mention of this fact whatsoever. Considering this is a biopic, that kind of information is fairly useful for an audience.

Also, it would have been nice to make reference to his notorious appearance on a French chat show, where an elderly and intoxicated Serge informed fellow guest Whitney Houston on live TV that he “would like to fuck her”. Not only would that scene have been in the spirit of the film to include it, but also very much in the spirit of the man.

It has to be said that Elmosnino is simply spell-binding as Serge from beginning to end. It’s not just a remarkable likeness that he possesses, but at times it feels like he’s channelling the very being of Gainsbourg from whatever celestial bar he’s hanging out at. You can imagine Serge approving of his performance wildly and declaring that he couldn’t have done a better job himself.

The women in the film do well to not get completely swallowed by the shadow of the man’s incredible ego, with Laetitia Casta in particular bringing out the best of the buxom Bridget Bardot. Rather tragically, British actress Lucy Gordon who played Jane Birkin, committed suicide during post production of the film.

Despite a flaky ending, the flair and imagination that is in abundance for the majority of the film, more than makes up for it.

Even if you’ve never heard of the man (think a French version of our very own Ollie Reed), his extraordinary life – as well as the artistic license used to bring it to the screen – is thoroughly captivating.