SERGE'S STIMULATING SLOGAN
As satisfying as any guilty pleasure, Slogan is
known primarily as the film that brought together Serge Gainsbourg and Jane
Birkin between the sheets, both on and off the screen. Yet it’s also a comic
and bittersweet examination of the darker side of desire. Cinema Retro takes a
look at the Cult Epics DVD release of this overlooked classic.
By Dean Brierly
“There is a trilogy in my life,†Serge Gainsbourg once said.
“An equilateral triangle, shall we say, of Gitanes, alcoholism and girls.â€
Of course, Gainsbourg wasn’t the first artist to embrace
such a decadent dolce vita, but few have done so with the style and
commitment of the French singer-songwriter, poet and provocateur. Fewer still
have exploited it to such evocative effect in their art. Gainsbourg wore his
hedonism on his well-tailored sleeve, and liked nothing better than upsetting
mainstream sensibilities through his outrageous lifestyle and his sexually
charged, often-scandalous lyrics. The explicit description of an erotic
encounter in his 1969 song “Je t’aime…moi non plus†even earned him a public
rebuke from the Vatican, doubtless much to his delight. But Gainsbourg’s lyrics
had depth as well as shock value. Shot through with equal parts cynicism and
romanticism, they proclaimed him the 20th century’s Baudelaire.
Gainsbourg also indulged his creativity in visual terms. He
made pioneering music videos, directed several movies, and acted in nearly 50
film and television productions. He first appeared in front of the camera in
low-budget potboilers (including the sword and sandal epic Samson) that
consistently failed to exploit his unique louche persona. In 1969, however, the
phenomenon that was Serge Gainsbourg finally achieved appropriate celluloid
representation in the film Slogan, a fascinating romantic
drama-cum-advertising satire. Gainsbourg called it “the first film where a
director finally had me act as myself, just as I am.â€
It could hardly have been otherwise, as the film’s narrative
prophetically mirrored events in the performer’s real life. Gainsbourg plays
Serge Fabergé, a director of hip advertising films who, at 40 years of age, is
in the grip of a midlife crisis. While attending an awards festival in Venice, he begins an adulterous affair with a
free-spirited English girl named Evelyne (played by England’s free-spirited Jane
Birkin) in a vain attempt to recapture his youth. Behind the scenes, Slogan
was the vehicle through which Gainsbourg and Birkin met and embarked upon one
of the most celebrated love affairs of the seventies. Birkin had already
achieved her own measure of notoriety as a sixties wild child: She was one of
the models who cavort naked with David Hemmings in the film Blow-Up, and
was married to James Bond composer John Barry from 1965-68. She would remain
Gainsbourg’s lover, muse and creative partner until leaving him in 1980.
Ironically, the two did not initially strike sparks, and
Birkin was put off by Gainsbourg’s indifference and arrogance. An evening out
in Paris to
break the ice ended with the two in bed, but with Gainsbourg too drunk to
consummate their new union. Nonetheless, the couple soon became inseparable.
Their off-screen passion is almost palpably rendered in Slogan, in which
they make a memorable, if unconventional, screen couple, with Birkin’s naive
yet smoldering sexuality matched against Gainsbourg’s narcissistic, deadpan
cool. Director Pierre Grimblat, who also wrote the screenplay, effectively
captures the physical hunger of the lovers in a series of brief, evocative
vignettes—a naked Evelyne striding seductively towards Fabergé, who lies
expectantly in bed; Fabergé’s hand unzipping Evelyne’s top as she throws her
head back in ecstasy; an amorous embrace in front of a roaring fire.
Yet the characters' smugness and self-absorption make
it hard to empathize with them. Fabergé is entirely indifferent to the effect
his philandering has upon his wife. His excuse—“I hate choosing because I hate
making sacrificesâ€â€”sums up the selfishness at the core of his character. He
also boasts a nice line in cruelty. After leaving his wife, he throws a party
for their mutual friends at which he introduces Evelyne as “my little
home-breaker,†taking delight in scandalizing his guests and embarrassing his
inamorata. Evelyne is no saint, either. Fundamentally shallow and manipulative,
she’s not above threatening suicide to exact greater commitment from Fabergé.
She’s entirely a slave to her whims and desires, pursuing her pleasure with
nary a thought for the lovers who trail despondently in her wake.
The film’s only sympathetic character is Fabergé’s
long-suffering wife Françoise, played with brittle strength by Andréa Parisy.
Françoise understands her man all too well: “You look young, but you’re not
young. I remind you of that, so you get another opinion.†Accustomed to Serge’s
infidelities, she patiently waits for him to become bored with his latest
conquest and return to the safe harbor of marriage and family. Only when it’s
apparent that he’s committed to chasing his sexual fantasy to the end of the
licentious night does she reluctantly begin divorce proceedings.