Bambou put his existence on paper, between pain, resilience and love, with the book Step by step in the night. In this autobiographical book published by XO, the woman who was Serge Gainsbourg's last companion obviously devotes a large space to his life with the cabbage-headed man, a modern poet which turned his life upside down. Throughout the pages, we see a little more than what the media wanted to show about the couple they formed. She does not avoid any part, the addictions, the suffering, her relationship with Jane Birkin, but also shows how love saved them. Until March 2, 1991, the date of the artist's death. The disappearance of the music legend is recounted at the very end of his work, recounting in detail how this disappearance, which shocked the whole of France, was experienced from the inside.
The day before Serge Gainsbourg's death, it was his partner Bambou's birthday. Unlike his other celebrations, he does not give her a jewel but a precious pen. That day, she sees him fragile and offers to stay with him rue de Verneuil, which he refuses, telling her that he will call her the next day. The mother of Lulu Gainsbourg, the couple's boy aged 5 at the time, lives a little further away in a property that the star bought for her son in Butte-aux-Cailles. So she returned home and the next day, March 2, she waited for his call, in vain: “At nine o'clock, I call back. No response. I bring the babysitter, and at ten o'clock, I'm in tears in a taxi. I know… I know… Otherwise he would have called me.”
No longer having the keys to rue de Verneuil, Bambou called the firefighters who had to break down the first floor window to enter. “It takes time. I realize that he is not calling the SAMU. I know what that means.“Serge Gainsbourg is in her room, the firefighters leave her alone with him for five minutes.
Firefighters, police and doctor… the sinister sequence for Bambou
Then comes a scene which adds pain to the situation. The police who have just arrived demand his papers. “You are in police custody.”he was told. Then we ask him: “Who are you ? Aren't you family?“However, Bambou knows that they know:”All these cops are big fans of Serge. He paid them countless blows; right here, with me. But I know what they think of me.“Once the cause of death is determined by the doctor and Bambou's involvement is ruled out – Serge Gainsbourg succumbed to a heart attack on the afternoon of March 2, 1991 -, his custody ceases.
Comes the next step after the shock of this discovery. We must warn Charlotte Gainsbourg. It will not be done by Bambou who will not have had the time but learns about it through the media, informed by talkative firefighters. Lulu, for his part, will have a presentiment and will say to him when he returns to their house: “Dad is dead.“
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