Bambou meets us at the Beaux-Arts, a charming hotel near rue de Verneuil (Paris 7th). Very close to Serge Gainsbourg's house, where she was the last companion. They lived together from 1980 until his death in 1991 and had a son, Lulu, in 1986. We haven't seen Bambou in the media for ages, but she hasn't changed and, in the twilight of a living room, we recognize her mixed-race beauty, her face speckled with moles. Of their decade as a couple, we keep a memory that is both sulphurous and sweet, associated with the provocative and alcoholic character of “Gainsbarre”, but also with this woman who, we felt, made him happy but seemed as fragile as him. Two dented hearts.
What we didn't know was that Bambou was coming back from hell. From a childhood without love. When she meets Gainsbourg, her name is Caroline Paulus. Born in a Chinese and Vietnamese refugee camp in Lot-et-Garonne, she was placed in Public Assistance then with a host family in a village in Morvan. She nicknames them the “T”, like Thénardier, the odious characters of Victor Hugo. Except that for her, it was not fiction, her daily life for thirteen years.
