JE T'AIME MOI NON PLUS   1976 Directed by Serge Gainsbourg 84 minutes In French with English subtitles

It was the late 1960s, and there was a song in the air that drifted through Europe with an uncanny and unplaceable erotic mystique. In England the song was considered so erotic that it was banned from the BBC airwaves. But that hypnotic melody wasn't only a simple love song, it was also something far more complex. After all, the man who penned it, Serge Gainsbourg, was a poet. The Brits couldn't understand the lyrics, which are untranslatable, and they only responded to the heavy sexual panting throughout the song, supplied by Gainsbourg's partner at the time, Jane Birkin.

This piece of music, which remains one of the greatest subversions of poetry in pop music, was transformed into a feature length movie by Serge Gainsbourg himself. And since he was never one to play the fool, Gainsbourg decided to push the boundaries even further in this movie version. Here passion takes a bizarre course of events. A gay couple breaks up when one of them (Joe Dallesandro - of Andy Warhol's Heat) meets a young androgynous woman (Jane Birkin) and falls for her boyish charm. The problem is that the only way he can make love with her is through anal sex. Bang. Therefore the heavy breathing in the original song version, is reinterpreted as moans of pain. "In this film, love really does hurt." Gainsbourg's twisted sense of black humor, but also his sense of transgression, is at play again.

But at the same time, there is a breezy romanticism running through this flick. Actress and singer Jane Birkin and underground star Joe Dallesandro both consider this to be one of the best films they were ever in. And they weren't alone, even François Truffaut loved it. And of course it was typical Gainsbourg to put his then girlfriend, Jane Birkin, into a steamy romance with one of the most ruggedly sexy actors in the world. There must have been a lot of jealousy on set while they were filming the heavy sex scenes.

This movie is rough and hard, with a latent sense of longing in the air, seemingly shot somewhere in the American south west. It's a rarely screened cult classic from the 70s, and remains one of the most critically neglected movies of its era.

One critic's reaction:"Je t’aime moi non plus is maybe one of the 'coolest' films I have ever seen. It produces reactions of love and hate - as do many art expressions. I loved it. Serge Gainsbourg really does tap into something here. We, the audience, have a range of emotions surrounding Birkin's innocent nymph-like 'Johnny' from protection to raw lust. There is explicit nudity for any who might be offended - both female and male."

This will be a high-definition projection.