Charlotte for Ever (1986)

Stan, screeplay writer, had his time of glory in Hollywood. Today, alcoholic with a certain envy for suicide, his only link to life is his daughter, Charlotte.

Director:

Serge Gainsbourg (as Gainsbourg)

Writer:

Serge Gainsbourg (as Gainsbourg)

Stars:

Charlotte Gainsbourg, Serge Gainsbourg, Roland Bertin

Cast

Cast overview:
Charlotte Gainsbourg	...	Charlotte
Serge Gainsbourg	...	Stan
Roland Bertin	...	Leon
Roland Dubillard	...	Herman
Anne Zamberlan	...	Lola
Anne Le Guernec	...	Adelaide
Sabeline Campo	...	Therese

Storyline

Once a successful Hollywood screenwriter, Stan is now a depressive alcoholic who spends most of his time mooching about his house whilst pouring out his troubles to his drinking partner. The only thing that keeps him going is his love for his teenage daughter Charlotte, but she despises him, believing him to be responsible for the accident in which her mother died. Stan's one hope is to patch things up with his daughter, but will she ever forgive him...?

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Plot Keywords:

implied incest | implied incestuous desire | sleeping nude | gay friend | typewriter | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Details

Country:

France

Language:

French

Release Date:

10 December 1986 (France)

Company Credits

Production Co:

G.P.F.I., Constellation Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

94 min

Color:

Color (Fujicolor)

Did You Know?

Trivia

In 1984, two years before Charlotte for Ever (1986) was released, Serge Gainsbourg had written and performed the song Lemon Incest with his daughter, Charlotte Gainsbourg. The song was hugely controversial as it contained references to incest and pedophilia which audiences suspected were partially autobiographical. The movie Charlotte for Ever explored similar themes. Due to Charlotte Gainsbourg's age and the fact that she was playing a character with the same name as her own while her real life father was playing her father in the movie, the movie was reviled and questions about whether Gainsbourg was abusing his daughter were once again raised. As an adult Charlotte Gainsbourg repeatedly defended her relationship with her father, admitting that he had meant to provoke audiences but denying any impropriety or abuse towards herself.

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Soundtracks

Charlotte For Ever
(uncredited)
(theme song)
Music by Aram Khachaturyan
Lyrics by Serge Gainsbourg
Performed by Serge Gainsbourg and Charlotte Gainsbourg

User Reviews

What a load of pretentious crap.. but a nice ass.

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.