La Vie en Rose (2007)

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You'll find the repeated complaint that this American release was cut and re-edited, and suffered as a result. I tend to believe those complaints, though I've only seen the American version. Again and again I had the feeling that something vital had been cut in order to produce a trendy hopscotch of life-moments. It might be taken, if the viewer so chooses, as the jumbled memories of the dying woman. Words are spoken, in fact, from the death bed, to that effect; Edith declares that she remembers only what she doesn't want to remember. The 'unprepared' revelation of her secret loss, in the last moments of the film, makes no sense as art or as biography. Likewise the death-or-murder that interrupts Edith's progress toward stardom is annoyingly vague in time and in narrative purpose. What's left, if you try to make orderly sense of the film, is a montage of griefs and losses, enough to drive anyone to drink and self-destruction. Is that what we're supposed to get from the film?

Marion Cotillard, taking full advantage of the fact that no one has any prior role-associations for her, does offer a virtuosic portrayal of a damaged personality. Whether that personality bears any resemblance to Edith Piaf isn't terribly important, unless you're a Piaf fan. You'll note that the reviewers here who announce their longtime adoration of Piaf tend to be extremely critical of Cotillard's representation. I'm never been a Piaf fan. In fact, I've always thought her singing was maudlin and exaggerated. I was quite ready to believe that the insufferable narcissist portrayed in the film was authentically the "Little Sparrow" at her normal ugliest. So she took a bad life and made the worst of it, despite her gifts. Why should we care? January 2, 2009

piaf protrayed to perfection

The incredible performance of marion cotillard as Edith Piaf is incredible.
The whole cast is fantastic and the movie catches each time period
accurately and expertly. The only downside is that this movie jumps
back and forth and in between parts of the troubled edith piafs life.
It makes it confusing even though you still can understand what is happening if you follow the movie closely. The movie is in French with
english subtitles but that shouldn't detour anyone from watching the story of this great singer. In todays world we have a very sad
situation of many singers who stand in front of sampled music like hip hop that has no real substance, Piaf belonged to the
world of real divas but like so many entertainers drugs destroyed her.
This movie shows her whole life from her childhood growing up under
sordid circumstances to her rise to superstardom and eventual fall.
This movie is good but it may take you a while to deal with the jumping around , this is a technique that I don't think ever works very well in a biography; but the actors and the story overcome this to give us a decent movie.
December 26, 2008

So Good, I Watched It Twice

I'm quickly becoming a lover of French cinema and I really enjoyed films such as 1992's "Indochine" and 2002's Oscar darling "Amelie". "La Môme" ("La Vie En Rose" its US title) is another proud example of my hankering to hear a romantic language spoken amidst spectacular drama and the promised prize of a stupendous performance from Oscar-winning actress Marion Cotillard delivers - her role as the title character is one of the most affecting and heartbreaking I've seen in a long while.

The film traces revered French chanteuse Edith Piaf's life from her impoverished childhood all the way to her death in 1963 at the age of 47. Moving consistently between past and present, the film charts her ascendance from the street to the stage, her many loves and losses and her crippling dependence on alcohol and morphine, the former of which contributed to the liver cancer that caused her premature death. Piaf was a bleeding heart in the industry though she tried hard to conceal it in the beginning. Instead, her passion and grief would show itself through her balladry, her chagrin beautifully channeled in songs such as the more notable "La Vie en Rose", "Hymne à l'amour" and "Non, je ne regrette rien".

"La Môme" is rich in great performances from its actors, particularly that of Marion Cotillard. In the DVD's featurette, Cotillard says her goal in portraying Piaf was not to do an exact imitation, rather to try and understand her ultimate motivation, the depth of Piaf's heart and soul. It is for this reason that Cotillard manages to disarm the viewer with a portrayal of a woman who used brass to cover her vulnerability and fear, a woman who time and again had her heart broken but managed to stand tall despite it all and pour her heartache into song for her adoring fans. Excellent supporting players are Sylvie Testus as Piaf's close friend Mômone, Marc Barbé as the strict Raymond Asso and Emmanuelle Seigner as the maternal Titine.

Another strong point of the film is its incredible transformation of the comely Cotillard into the striking Piaf. A five-hour session in the makeup chair with makeup artist Didier Lavergne (who won an Oscar with Jan Archibald for his ingenious work on the film) metamorphosed Cotillard's angelic face into Piaf's distinguished visage, her scenes in the latter stages of Édith's life requiring her to shave her hairline back and shave her eyebrows off to pencil them in. The scenes of her as a woman aged well beyond her years (at only 44, she looked to be in her 70's) are breathtaking, Lavergne's fantastic work and Dahan's close-ups revealing nothing but the most convincing age-progression makeup ever seen on film.

As can be expected, the film is richly layered with Piaf's resonant vocals and confirms the singer's power to move her audience when renowned film actress Marlene Dietrich approaches her after a performance and says wistfully:

"I haven't been to Paris for ages. But this evening, when you were singing, Edith, I was there, in the streets, beneath its sky. Your voice is the soul of Paris. You took me on a journey. You made me cry."

Bottom line: The French - and ONLY the French - could've attempted a story on the magnificent drama of Édith Piaf's life, a woman who was idolized in her native country and whose puissant voice is forever synonymous with Parisian culture. A gem in every way, even a person who hates subtitles must look past it for a rare and perfect portrayal by Cotillard, a performance every bit worthy of her Oscar win. Like Piaf's own life, "La Môme" is extraordinary.
December 19, 2008

McCain dazzlement

My wife and I like the singing of Edith Piaf. When the DVD of a movie about Ms. Piaf came available, we bought it.

As we watched the performance, we sat in our chairs with our mouth agape. The acting is so superb as to whisk you back to Paris of the '30's with a young woman sining in the streets and dazzling her audiences.

Marion Cotillard won an Academy Award for this part and I know why. She is more than spectacular. November 29, 2008

Touching, moving and fabulous!

La vie en Rose is a classic.
Unbelievable performance from Marion Cotillard.
Interesting cinematography and suspense building cadence.
Sometime hard to follow with its time changes but worth every minute. November 17, 2008

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