Slogan
1969 · France · 85 min
- Director
- Pierre Grimblat
- Screenplay
- Francis Girod
- Producer
- Francis Girod
- Music
- Serge Gainsbourg
Cast
What it is about
Serge Fabergé, a forty-year-old advertising director, leaves his pregnant wife Françoise in Paris to attend an advertising awards festival in Venice. There he meets Evelyne, a young British woman, and begins an affair with her. The film views its protagonist's romantic contradictions with a sardonic eye.
How it was made
Pierre Grimblat, who directed the film and co-wrote it, first considered American actress Marisa Berenson for the role of Evelyne, but eventually chose an English actress instead. He had been nominated in Venice for a Renault commercial, and since nobody knew what he looked like, he asked Serge Gainsbourg to pose as him and collect the award, allowing Grimblat to film the ceremony. Shooting ran from June 26 to August 16, 1968 in Venice, and was briefly delayed by the unrest that year in France. During the shoot, Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin met; he first ignored her, until a dinner arranged by Grimblat brought them together.
Reception and legacy
Slogan was the first film Gainsbourg and Birkin made together, and it marked the start of a thirteen-year relationship between them. A satirical romantic comedy-drama of late-1960s French cinema, it is remembered largely for that link to its stars' private lives.
Stills
Trivia
An award collected by someone else
Gainsbourg posed as Grimblat at a Venice awards ceremony so the director could film it and use the footage in the movie.
An actress who did not become Evelyne
Grimblat first wanted Marisa Berenson for the role of Evelyne, but ultimately chose an English actress.
An interrupted shoot
Filming was temporarily delayed by the 1968 unrest in France.
Original Cinematopedia text based on Wikipedia (en) and Wikidata.