Joyeux Anniversaire, Serge Gainsbourg!

The iconic French chanteur, directeur, et bon viveur Serge Gainsbourg would have been 82 years old today -- that's, like, 273 in Serge-years -- and we're toasting him with a fistful of Gitanes and a bottle or ten of cheap Merlot on the eve of the release of his biopic: Gainsbourg (vie héroique).

Mention Gainsbourg's name today and most hipsters will immediately associate it with his music, and mais oui, his masterfully playful work with both Brigitte Bardot and Jane Birkin -- Je t'aime moi non plus, Initials BB, Bonnie and Clyde -- remains the most pop-culturally enduring aspect of the great man's oeuvre.

Cinephiles, on the other hand, know that Gainsbourg wrote and directed, (among many other film projects) 1976's exquisitely perverse Je t'aime moi non plus, a virtual index of retro-cool, psychopathic sexuality notable for a pair of stunningly erotic -- and trés cheeky -- performances from Gainsbourg's gamine muse, Jane Birkin, and Andy Warhol/Paul Morrissey export Joe Dallesandro. So far as we know, no Region 1 DVD of Je t'aime... has ever been released, so this nine-minute montage/clip is likely the closest you're ever going to get to see this much of the film in a non-tenth generation VHS dub format...

Joann Sfar (The Rabbi's Cat) in the director's seat, and first-time actor Eric Elmosnino has been cast as Gainsbourg. And, mon dieu, does he look exactly like the man himself, or what? Color us impressed on that stroke-of-genius casting choice.

No U.S. opening date has been announced just yet, but given the 2007, Oscar-caliber success of La vie en rose, it's unlikely that Universal will deny the even more outrageous story of Gainsbourg a serious theatrical run. Fingers crossed, here's the trailer, and once again, joyeux anniversaire to our all-time favorite frog.