Posted by Penny Cropper on October 5, 2010
Being married to Charlotte Gainsbourg must be tough. The daughter of one of France's most cherished and provocative artistic figures, Serge Gainsbourg, and his wife and muse, actress and fashion icon Jane Birkin, Charlotte is famous in her own right as an actress and musician and is much-loved in France. Meanwhile, her poor schmuck of a husband is a nobody who mopes around being jealous of her famous, handsome co-stars while she's off filming movies in glamorous locations in languages he cannot understand.
At least, that's the impression we get in the semi-autobiographical movie My Wife is an Actress, in which Charlotte stars with her real-life husband Yvan Attal, who also wrote and directed the romantic comedy about a 'normal' guy married to a famous actress and the problems they encounter. In real life, Attal is an accomplished film director, writer and actor, and surely nowhere near as insecure as his struggling sportswriter character, but you still get the impression much of the film's substance comes from experience.
It's a story about trust, jealousy, marriage and the thoroughly modern problem of the hurt male pride and relationship dynamics when a woman has a more successful than her partner. There are some sweet and fun moments and the secondary storyline of Yvan's troubled sister and brother-in-law is funny, but it's Gainsbourg's charm and presence that, predictably, really make this film. A talented actor, she lights up the screen and her chemistry with Attal is sweet and genuine.
My Wife is an Actress is showing in Melbourne in October as part of the ACMI's retrospective of the works of Serge Gainsbourg, Jane Birkin and Charlotte Gainsbourg, Je t'aime: The Filmic lives of Gainsbourg and Birkin.
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