The extraordinary life of Edith Piaf
An un-chronological look at the life of the Little Sparrow, Édith Piaf (1915-1963). Her mother is an alcoholic street singer, her father a circus performer, her paternal grandmother a madam. During childhood she lives with each of them. At 20, she's a street singer discovered by a club owner who's soon murdered, coached by a musician who brings her to concert halls, and then quickly famous. Constant companions are alcohol and heartache. The tragedies of her love affair with Marcel Cerdan and the death of her only child belie the words of one of her signature songs, "Non, je ne regrette rien." The back and forth nature of the narrative suggests the patterns of memory and association.
Genre(s): Biography, Drama, Music
Runtime: 140 minutes
Rating: 7.6/10 (17,916 votes)
Release Date: 8 February 2007
Country: France, UK, Czech Republic
Languages: French, English
Company: Légende Films
Sound: Dolby Digital, DTS
MPAA: Rated PG-13 for substance abuse, sexual content, brief nudity, language and thematic elements. (also extended edition)
Director(s): Olivier Dahan
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Producer(s):
Timothy Burrill - co-producer
Axel Decis - assistant producer
Alain Goldman - producer
Marc Jenny - co-producer
Oldrich Mach - co-producer
Catherine Morisse - associate producer
Marc Vadé - line producer
Writer(s):
Olivier Dahan - writer
Isabelle Sobelman - writer
Cast:
Marion Cotillard - Edith Piaf
Sylvie Testud - Mômone
Pascal Greggory - Louis Barrier
Emmanuelle Seigner - Titine
Jean-Paul Rouve - Louis Gassion
Gérard Depardieu - Louis Leplée
Clotilde Courau - Anetta
Jean-Pierre Martins - Marcel Cerdan
Catherine Allégret - Louise
Marc Barbé - Raymond Asso
Music: Christopher Gunning
Timothy Burrill - co-producer
Axel Decis - assistant producer
Alain Goldman - producer
Marc Jenny - co-producer
Oldrich Mach - co-producer
Catherine Morisse - associate producer
Marc Vadé - line producer
Writer(s):
Olivier Dahan - writer
Isabelle Sobelman - writer
Cast:
Marion Cotillard - Edith Piaf
Sylvie Testud - Mômone
Pascal Greggory - Louis Barrier
Emmanuelle Seigner - Titine
Jean-Paul Rouve - Louis Gassion
Gérard Depardieu - Louis Leplée
Clotilde Courau - Anetta
Jean-Pierre Martins - Marcel Cerdan
Catherine Allégret - Louise
Marc Barbé - Raymond Asso
Music: Christopher Gunning
Posted on: July 8, 2008
July 18th, 2008
I only really became interested in watching this after its recent (andfrankly unexpected) Oscar success; on the other hand, I knew ofcelebrated French singer Edith Piaf but wasn’t familiar with herlife-story – so that I couldn’t tell whether certain passages weren’tcontrived (notably the decision to make the final tour despite herfailing health on the strength of just a cursory listen of “Je NeRegrette Rien”) or if they truly happened that way!
Incidentally, the film spends much more time on the singer’s troubledlife (which seemed to parallel that of Judy Garland – eerily, both diedat the same age) than on her career (so that the only reason given forPiaf’s enormous success is that she has “powerful lungs”!)…but, then,this emphasis on sensationalism seems to be the way of modern biopics(making one long for yesteryear’s whitewashed but much moreentertaining efforts). Still, the biggest drawback in this respect isthat we end up appreciating the actress’ performance (especially comingfrom a virtual unknown like Marion Cotillard) more than the subjectitself, which is certainly not what the film-makers intended!!
We see the singer suffer at the hands of her parents (alcoholic motherand itinerant father), so that she’s raised by her grandmother – in awhorehouse of all places; here, she grows attached to one of the girls(Emmanuelle Seigner) – but, eventually, they’re separated. Later on,she befriends a waif: rather than prostituting herself for a pimp, shegets him money through street-singing – which is how impresario GerardDepardieu notices her. Not long after, however, the latter is murderedby her pimp but Piaf is picked up by another entrepreneur who takes herunder his wing – and, following his arduous voice coaching, she’s onher way to stardom.
Now a household word, she’s also pretty much a society woman (at onepoint, she’s even visited by Marlene Dietrich!) – which is how Piaf (bythe way, a stagename given her by Depardieu) meets and falls for boxingchamp Marcel Cerdan. Their relationship is complicated by his beingalready married – one night, craving to see him, she pleads that heleave his family to go by her side but is killed when the plane heboards crashes on the way! Considering him the love of her life(despite being married herself and also numbering among her lovers –though he’s never seen in the film and mentioned only in passing –iconic singer/actor Yves Montand, whom she discovered in the firstplace), she gradually falls apart. The situation isn’t helped by Piaf’scrippling arthritis – or, for that matter, her dependence on morphine(the direct result of her misguided attempt to fight that verycondition) – all of which gives her a shocking appearance much olderthan her age!
Apart from the superb leading performance and equally convincingmake-up (both deserving Oscar winners), the film is carefully made inthe best French tradition i.e. a product which is often pleasing to theeye, the ear and the mind. By the way, this is a rare case in which aforeign movie was released in English-speaking countries under adifferent title but still in its original language (here, it’s the nameof Piaf’s most popular song); that said, I do know of a couple ofAmerican pictures released in Italy with English monikers – namelyHARPER (1966), which became DETECTIVE’S STORY, and BONNIE AND CLYDE(1967), which was changed to GANGSTER STORY (both curiousretitlings…since they’d already been taken in the U.S.!).
July 25th, 2008
Marion Cotillard's performance as Edith Piaf in "La Vie en Rose" is oneof the most amazing, if not the most amazing, screen performance I haveever seen. Cotillard's Piaf is up there with such unforgettable screenicons as Peter O'Toole as Lawrence of Arabia, Clark Gable as RhettButler, and Judy Garland as Dorothy in "The Wizard of Oz." Cotillard'sjob was much tougher, though. Other than the portions of the filmdevoted to Piaf's childhood, Cotillard appears in virtually everyscene. She, with complete conviction, portrays a woman aged from herteens to her prematurely ravaged fifties. Piaf's life was veryeventful, and Cotillard throws herself into conveying grief, joy,exuberance, intelligence, craftiness, and haughtiness with completegusto. Not only did Cotillard deserve her Academy Award, she deservesan Olympic medal for her epic performance in this film.
It is to this film's great credit that Cotillard, and the film, make noeffort to turn Piaf into a likable character. Piaf is difficult, andher many flaws are not glossed over. Even so, Cotillard / Piaf isunfailingly fascinating. You can't take your eyes off her.
The film is beautiful. Its production values are very high. Greateffort was taken to transport the viewer to each decade depicted, fromthe 1910s to the 1960s. Chronological time is not followed. The filmintercuts scenes from Piaf's childhood with her adulthood. If thedirector was attempting to make an artistic point by not using aconventional chronology, that artistic point went over my head. ThoughI did not like this style of presenting the story, the film stillworked for me, because of its high production values, the inherentfascination of Piaf's eventful life, and Cotillard's not-to-be-missedperformance.
July 27th, 2008
Sometimes, the flashback can be an effective tool. Sometimes a story isbest told in pieces rather than a single, linear, contiguous whole.
This movie? Goes to the other extreme. We are whipsawed back and forthall over the main character's life, increasingly as the runtimeprogresses — doing little to advance our understanding or sympathy forthe character. In fact, it seems specifically concocted to try and makethe story more incomprehensible or simply to obscure the fact that themakers of this movie couldn't stand to try and tie together the threadof Edith Piaf's life, preferring to serve up a mishmash ofmelodramatically tragic vignettes.
In particular, as has been mentioned, I'm not sure that revealing thedeath of the main character's daughter only near the end accomplishesmuch, or anything. It's not a "big reveal" or unlocks anything thatwe've seen all film; it seems cheap that such a particular tragedywould be deliberately hidden until near the end, and then treated as athrowaway reference. But then… characters who aren't Edith Piaf arelargely treated as throwaway, popping in and out of disjointed scenesseemingly at random.
There are some who might turn up their nose at linear storytellingbecause it is somehow too simple to lay out the line of someone's life,and forces you to make sense of the presence of others in that person'slife. Using flashbacks, nonlinear disjointed scenes would require*more* skill, not less, to portray facts of the main character'spersonality more effectively — a skill that is sadly, even wholly,lacking in this film.
September 11th, 2008
It seems that with bio-pics on music sensations, filmmakers tend totake great leeway with the artist's life. In the case of Édith Piaf inLa Vie En Rose (La Môme), you practically have to separate the ÉdithPiaf in the movie from the one that really lived simply because it'sdifficult to separate the myths from the facts. Taking, that aside LaVie En Rose in itself is a fatiguing film to watch. Poverty,prostitution, tragedy, child abuse, terminal illness (an that's just inthe first 30 minutes) all weigh this film down. It makes Ray seem likea walk in the park.
The film seems to make Piaf a victim of her circumstances that has tobe rescued to overcome them. They show when she was a child and wentblind due to an illness only to inexplicably recover. She sings formoney on the street until a club owner and begins her career. When heis murdered she is found a suspect only to never be followed up on. Itseems that the most interesting things in her life (like how she wasconsidered a traitor for willingly performing for German Forces in thenoccupied France or how she was considered a contributor to the FrenchResistance) were excluded because it wasn't depressing enough. When itcomes to the point in the film when she begins an affair with a marriedboxer, you can't help but anticipate some sort of catastrophe.
The film spends more time wallowing in Piaf's misery instead of hertalent. When Piaf sings (incredibly lip synced by Marion Cotillard) itseems to act as a bridge between one sad scene to the next as the filmjumps around between her last few years of life. Because the film jumpsaround, it's never boring although it's not very hard to follow.However, it gets very flashy. Particularly one tracking shot where Piaflearns of death and goes from hysterics in her bedroom to the stage.After seeing so many scenes of Piaf suffering, you almost becomedesensitized to it. Which is why the best scene in the film is thefinal one where Piaf sings "Non! Jen ne regrette rien" (No, I don'tregret anything.) Which seems to sum up Piaf's light without ending onanother too dreary note.