Alain Bashung
1947 - 2009Bashung's Play blessures (1982), Osez Joséphine (1991), and Fantaisie militaire (1998) have made multiple French lists of the greatest albums. L'Imprudence (2002) and Bleu pétrole (2008), the last two studio albums released during his lifetime, also garnered acclaim. Bashung died at 61 after a two-year fight with lung cancer.
Alain Baschung (he later dropped the "c" from his surname) was the son of a Breton mother working in a rubber factory and an Algerian father, whom he never knew. His mother remarried, and at the age of one, Bashung was sent to Wingersheim, near Strasbourg to live with his stepfather's parents. He spent his childhood in the countryside, in a rather conservative environment, alongside a grandmother who did not speak French. He discovered music during his childhood, notably Kurt Weill's Mahagonny, and began to practice with a Rosebud harmonica offered to him when he was five. He also practiced basketball and cycling and sang in the church choir of Wingersheim.
He came back to Paris in 1959, where he discovered the great chanson artists, and then rock artists such as Gene Vincent, Buddy Holly (whom he admired deeply), and Elvis Presley. While studying (before dropping out after he was awarded a BTS in accountancy from the École nationale de commerce in 1965), he formed a band called Les Dunces playing folk music and rockabilly.
He later formed a band with musicians met in Royan, and then began to tour in restaurants, hotels and U.S. military bases. He began his career with his first EP, "Pourquoi rêvez-vous des États-Unis?" in 1966, which he wrote and composed. At the same time, he joined the RCA label to become a music arranger. He wrote songs for French artists. In June 1967, at the Palais des Sports of Paris, he was the opening act (alongside Noël Deschamps and Ronnie Bird) of artists such as the Pretty Things, the Troggs or Cream.
In 1968, he released his first single, "Les Romantiques", which was largely ignored by the public and unsuccessful. Around that time, he dropped the "c" from his name and spent some time at the house of fellow singer Christophe.
From 1972 to 1974, he composed some of the music and cowrote three albums and three singles (including "Marilou") for French rock singer Dick Rivers. In 1973, he played Robespierre in the musical La Révolution française by Claude-Michel Schönberg. ...
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J'ai toujours rêvé d'être un gangster
Samuel Benchetrit
Anna Mouglalis, Edouard Baer
Told in four vignettes, this existential comedy relates the exploits of four aspiring criminals who hope to improve their lot, but find that they might not have what it takes for a life of crime.
I Always Wanted to Be a Gangster
Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart
Mathias Malzieu, Stéphane Berla
Mathias Malzieu, Olivia Ruiz
In Scotland 1874, Jack is born on the coldest day ever. Because of the extreme cold, his heart stops beating. The responsible midwife in Edinburgh finds a way to save him by replacing his heart with a clock. So he lives and remains under the midwife's protective care. But he must not get angry or excited because that endangers his life by causing his clock to stop working. Worse than that, when he grows up, he has to face the fact he cannot fall in love because that too could stop his delicate heart.
Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart
Ma sœur chinoise
Alain Mazars
Jean-François Balmer, Alain Bashung
In 1977, one year after Mao died, a French man ( played by Alain Bashung) comes back to China to work as a school teacher with his daughter. He quickly ignores the interdiction of getting in touch with Chinese people and finds himself drawn into mysterious meetings at the Red Pavilion. MY CHINESE SISTER is a movie about pretense and the mystification of reality.
My Chinese Sister
La confusion des genres
Ilan Duran Cohen
Pascal Greggory, Nathalie Richard
Bisexual attorney Alain is bedding his female boss, his murderer client, the client's hairdresser girlfriend, and a precocious boy who knows what he wants and tries to convince Alain that he can 'have it all'.
Confusion of Genders
L'ombre du doute
Aline Issermann
Mireille Perrier, Alain Bashung
Aline Issermann's "Shades of Doubt" ("L'Ombre du Doute"), a French film about a wrenching family crisis, is set forth with remarkable restraint. The subject is incest, but the story's potential for tawdriness is never exploited. Instead, Ms. Issermann presents a discreet, methodical account of how 12-year-old Alexandrine comes to bring and then recant charges against her father, Jean.
A Shadow of a Doubt
Félix et Lola
Patrice Leconte
Philippe Torreton, Charlotte Gainsbourg
Félix, operator of dodgem cars in a fairground, becomes obsessed by one of his customers, a mysterious young woman named Lola. Félix soon discovers that Lola is running away from her former boyfriend, a singer who continues to taunt her. Lola asks Félix to prove his love for her by murdering a man he does not know...
Felix and Lola
Le cimetière des voitures
Fernando Arrabal
Juliet Berto, Alain Bashung
The plot is set in a post apocalyptic Junkyard where people take refuge from authority and are able to practice their fantasies and fetishes without being stopped by the police. These people are led by Emanou who is a sort of Messiah, who promises music rather than salvation.
Car Cemetery
Le Beauf
Yves Amoureux
Gérard Jugnot, Gérard Darmon
Gilbert, assigned to incinerate old banknotes at the Bank of France, lives with his wife, Gisèle, and his young son, Thomas. A few years earlier, he had formed a rock band with Serge and Gisèle's brother, Marc. The latter, abusing his naivety, make him believe that he has been robbed of a briefcase containing a million dollars and that, because of his fault, Marc is in danger of dying. The objective is to force Gilbert to put his incinerator out of order to facilitate the bank robbery. Gilbert refuses at first, then gives in. But he discovers that he has been cheated. To get revenge, he tells the police the date and time of the robbery.
Le Beauf
Mon père, ma mère, mes frères et mes sœurs
Charlotte de Turckheim
Victoria Abril, Charlotte de Turckheim
Young single mother has two sons and a daughter by three different fathers who are completely unaware of having fathered them. Anne's mother conjures up a plot to make everyone involved to go on a beach holiday in Mexico at the same time so that her grandchildren could meet their fathers and their new families.
My Father, My Mother, My Brothers and My Sisters
Je veux tout
Guila Braoudé
Elsa Zylberstein, Frédéric Diefenthal
The collision between family life and career lies at the heart of this comedy hailing from France. A mother of two small children, Eva's life goes from stressful to insane when she is told that she is a project finalist for the design of a massive European hospital. She and her working husband Philippe try desperately to balance their commitments to their kids, careers, and themselves.
I Want It All
