Charlotte for Ever

A writer played by Serge Gainsbourg, is asking his agent for money which he needs because he is broke. His agent argues with him, and asks for the script he is supposed to be working on. After some prolonged begging, he finally gets the cash after promising to finish the script.

His daughter Charlotte is used as his on screen offspring here for a sense of reality. They argue constantly about her mother's death in a car accident in which she blames her father for causing. We get repeated flashbacks of a Porsche crashing into a fuel tanker and a fiery explosion. In between, old Serge drinks, has sex with various prostitutes, and reads from classic literature, including Lolita, to his fifteen year old daughter. He has inappropriate behavior with her, including some brief nudity of young Charlotte. The film goes nowhere, it just drifts from scene to scene with no direction. Why Mr. Gainsbourg would subject his young daughter to this subject matter at fifteen is beyond me. I was bored by Charlotte Forever.

Both Charlotte and Serge Gainsbourg give fantastic and touching performances in this near true to life story. Directed by Serge it is a true masterful work that is really not known... beautiful and thoughtful. Charlotte Gainsbourg is very young, I think she is 15 years of age but shows the depth and star power that is to come. It is not for the faint of heart because this film is heartbreaking.

The story evolves around a failed writer, who tries to get his comeback going again, while he sits at home and drinks with his obese friend, both mumbling on and on about a bunch of stuff that nobody really gives a rats ass about. He is a very repulsive and uninteresting character, who wears a filthy black glove to allegedly disguise his badly burned hand (but this doesn't really lend anything to the plot at all), which he apparently got while trying to save his wife, who died in a terrible car-accident, which we see in numerous flash-backs. This also lends nothing to the plot at all, but contains a well-filmed, great explosion, that was just completely wasted in this film.

Meanwhile, his teenage daughter Charlotte (also Gainsbourg's daughter in real life), just prances half-naked around the house, sometimes bringing her skanky friends along, whom her father for some reason is able to seduce and have sex with, and they all dance to his music throughout the film.. wow...just wow.

Not quite sure what to make of this film, but I do know that all those reviewers who gave it 10/10 must either be die-hardcore fans of Gainsbourg, or just old horny guys who love seeing scantily-clad teenage girls dancing and stripping to 80's synth-pop music.. that's ALL this movie is about. The acting is horrible, the story is almost non-existent, and the music gets very repetitive.. fast! I don't think I've ever seen such pretentious crap get so much praise before.. AVOID! I can only give this movie 2 stars. One for the exploding cars, and one for Charlotte shaking her ass to her father's music. If only the film was like that for 90 minutes, it would've been a masterpiece.

"Charlotte For Ever" is a great example of the way the French like to fetishize suffering. It's a movie about a mopey alcoholic recovering from the accidental death of his wife who seems to be having a great time. He just slouches around his apartment, muttering meaningless pseudo-philosophical dialogue, while apparently seducing teenage girls, including his own daughter.

Or does he? There's no sex in the movie, but it keeps suggesting as much. For example, during a mundane conversation with her old man, young Charlotte takes off her top, unexpectedly, and turns to approach him. End scene.

What happened after the scene ended? Other times we see the old man and Charlotte in bed together, implying sex has either happened or is about to happen, but we never see it.

And what to make of the scene where Gainsbourg's Stan strips his daughter's school-friend and she stands there like a mannequin while he fondles her breast?

I think that Gainsbourg knew the controversial premise would be enough to sell tickets. Incest and paedophilia would be bad enough, but when the father and daughter are related in real life? It worked for the song/music video "Lemon Incest", and here, Gainsbourg repeated the trick.

I just wish he had bothered to make an actual movie with a story, characters, or some kind of point. What we have is just a tedious slog, with a pointlessness that is almost laughable.

Oh, and for the raincoat brigade? There's not really enough nudity here to justify your attention, I don't think. And there's certainly no eroticism.

Love Serge...Love Charlotte.... Hated....the movie.