This odd looking chap sitting at the piano, smoking a cigarette and tinkling the keys may not be known to everyone as a character from the film Gainsbourg (Vie héroïque) [tr. Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life]. The film tells the story of French singer Serge Gainsbourg, from growing up in 1940s Nazi-occupied Paris, through his successful songwriting years in the 1960s. Pedro Vezini has masterfully built Gainsbourg’s grotesque alter ego with his large nose, long thin fingers, and an affection for cigarettes and drinking – a character who personifies all of the singer’s worst habits.
