From the lighthearted beginning through the Faustian contract with an alter ego Mephistopheles to a descent into a personal Hell, it is hard to believe that this brilliant work is the first time film by Joann Sfar. Those who carp that some of the details of of Gainsbourg’s life are incorrect are like those who would say that Bacon’s Screaming Pope is not and accurate portrait of the Pope and fail to appreciate an exceptional work of art.