In conjoining Jewish heritage and classic French chanson, Gainsbourg celebrates the hybridity of contemporary French culture, while its combination of realist narrative and poetic animation make it both a touching biopic and an inspired musical.

It's a comic-strip version of one man's life and times, but it's tres cool.

While the movie's on a roll, it's zesty, engaging and frisky.

Gainsbourg is often just the right side of uncomfortably intimate, but that's what makes it such a magnetic film.