La Vie en Rose

'Cotillard deserves a Rose'

If you haven't heard of this film, no surprise. It's not playing in most of the country and it is holing itself up in limited release as an art house film which is where it belongs since it wouldn't do too well as a wide release with public perception about the French and all. However, if you don't know who Edith Piaf is, then chances are you will never see this film as you are fairly ignorant about world famous international singers. Although I had heard of her and knew of her connection as a French singer, I admit to knowing little else about her to having heard only one song by her in my entire life. Man, was I in for a surprise.

La Vie en Rose is a biopic of sorts about the great French singer Edith Piaf and her rise to fame. Consider it like a French feminine Ray if you will. It covers her entire story from being born to an absent contortionist father who left her first with her abusive negligent street singing mother and then with Piaf's hostile brothel-running grandmother. She later grew up as a street singer until one day she was discovered by a kindly cabaret owner and given her first real start toward the international success she would one day become. Her life plays out like a depraved Horatio Algers novel. I have to admit that the story to her life surprised me and it is becoming more apparent to me that maybe only great artists can come from terrible backgrounds. Or maybe they just don't make movies about the good ones. I don't know.

The directing, actor-wise at least had to have been well done. Olivier Dahan might be an extremely able actor-director but I won't know until I see another of his films. The truth though is that Marion Cotillard could easily potentially win the best actress award at the next Oscar ceremony. If nothing else the film should be nominated for best foreign film if they won't let her be a part of the Best Actress award since it is a French film. MY GOD! She gives the best performance from an actress that I have seen in years! Not only does she look like Edith Piaf, but she captures all of the mannerisms and portrays Piaf as a younger drunk singer, an older more sophisticated singer, and as an elderly woman on her last legs who is slowly loosing her mind and is no longer able to focus, crumpling up into a leathery ball of used up morphine. I have never used this term before and I doubt I will ever use it again. Marion Cotillard's performance in this film is a tour de force. If you ever get the chance to see this movie, especially if you are an actress, then rent it or see it in theaters and pay close attention. I have a feeling that we will all be seeing more Cotillard soon since a job like this requires the world to take notice. Edith Piaf was known as the Little Sparrow and the similarities are made obvious by Cotillard's performance. I can't stop raving about it and as such I will move on before this article becomes far too long.

The directing of the film is fantastic. The light and shadows do well and play off each other. At times I admit to being slightly bored by the pacing and a couple of shots were a bit too obvious for my taste of such a quality film. Such as the obvious seamless transition of Piaf screaming down a hallway in her house to suddenly being on-stage. For the most part though the lighting, cinematography, and choice of shots are excellent and well-planned. Although I understand that the slightly muddled storytelling is a reflection of the elderly Piaf's inability to recall certain details (my favorite being that you will never see Marcel's watch) it does grow irksome with the continuous jumping and time changing. I did appreciate the obvious differences in appearance and settings as clues to the different time periods and that for the first 3/4 of the movie when a transition is made the subtitles tell you where and what date. It's just at the end when the transitions pick up a bit and it doesn't have time and has to rely on your remembrance of previous events and looks that it becomes slightly tiring. On the whole though, I feel Dahan does everything he can to arm the audience with the tools needed to carry through and figure out the timeline of Piaf's life without the direct storytelling influence of Piaf's memory.

Conclusion:
This film will help culture those who know little to nothing of Piaf. It contains one of the best performances by an actress that I have ever seen. Also, it has Gerard Depardieu in a small role and several other males in the film do a good job. The directing is pretty good and the storytelling is slightly muddled but makes sense in terms of unity of effect and can help to understand Piaf more toward the elder days of her short life. Although the child at the end was a cheap shot and did make me go, "Where the hell did that come from? Who is that guy?" Maybe you can do better. Oh yea, and I love the fact that she influenced Jean Cocteau to write a play just for her. Where is that kind of muse today in our world where amazing artists were rewarded plays? Oh well, non je ne regrette rien...

4.8 out of 5

Wannabe