La Vie En Rose

Amazing movie

Acting is superb, cinematography is stunning. Deeply heartful.Spoiler alert: Shows how even the most ferocious of heart, gifted person can suicide via unchecked addiction.

This will forever be my favorite movie

Beautiful film, thoughtfully structured. Normally multiple flashbacks are a huge red flag, but in this case it works. Ms. Cotillard is astonishing, downplaying her own beauty and disappearing into Piaf. The shoot must have been physically and psychically brutal. The only flaws with the story are not the film makers' particular fault. One, Piaf has no arc (outside of her career). She was a reactive person by nature and remained so through-out her life. They try to give her a sense of peace and reflection in a scene on a California beach but it is one of the few scenes that rings hollow. The other (minor) issue is obviously this is a French film and the makers tend to assume that a French audience will mostly know the (tragic) beats of her story, such is her status in the pantheon. For an American audience, however, this is problematic. Piaf's daughter is introduced by her childhood death by meningitis. It is horrible, but less horrible than it might have been had we known she even had a daughter by a husband we had just met. Also WW2 is skipped over with one throw away scene where she meets a soldier leaving for the front. Her affair with Cerdan, however, is wonderfully done, handled with both substance and great delicacy. His death tears your heart out - even if you know it is coming. The actor who plays Cerdan is credible as both the man and the boxer. I'm sure most Americans don't know France ever had a serious boxer, much less a world champion, but it is true. A fine, fine portrayal.Finally, the music. I am no musicologist so I am not going to comment on that, but her performances and songs will outlive all of us, and the film is both generous and clever in handling the music. This is what they used to call a twenty hankie movie, and it is all of that. Preparez vos mouchoirs, as they say.A couple of interesting points: Claude Lelouch made 'Edith and Marcel' in '83 casting Cerdan's real son as his father. I'm not going to comment until I can go back and screen it again, it's been too many years, but it is probably worth digging up. Finally, a film about Cerdan starring Patrick Dewaere was in production when Dewaere committed suicide, the awful loss of a wonderful young actor.

It seems contradictory to praise a film for its star's performance while faulting it for overly busy, manipulative editing. In the hands of a clever filmmaker-editor-scriptwriter, most of us could come off looking reasonably competent. But as will be clear even to those unfamiliar with Edith Piaf's life or music, Marion Cotillard gives perhaps the most impressive performance of the new millennium in the role of "The Little Sparrow."Somehow she manages to stay a cut ahead of Olivier Dahan's overly slick and clever movie with her mercurial changes--one moment mousey and woebegone, the next an out-of-control feral cat on the attack; a Tomboyish and modest international star one moment, a demanding and self-destructive diva the next; a weathered and withered little scarecrow one instant, a noble and courageous heroine the next. Her body and facial language are equally expressive--both telling us the story of Edith Piaf less through script than sheer rhetoric of character.Nevertheless, I'd recommend the viewer read a brief account of Edith Piaf's life (Wickipedia is pretty good) before watching the film. Besides moving his camera all over the place and violating temporal-spatial conventions, writer-director Dahan tends to embed flashbacks within flashbacks, requiring the viewer to keep four or more time periods simultaneously in mind, and he frequently cuts to a character about whose identity (in some cases, "reality") we remain clueless until much later in the sequence. Better to get the plot-story business out of the way lest it distract from Cotillard's extraordinary accomplishment.Unfortunately, there's another reason to do a quick prep on Piaf's life and career before viewing film. Like the vast majority of biopics about musicians (Billie Holiday, Cole Porter, Charlie Parker, Dexter Gordon immediately come to mind), the film fails not only to show us why Piaf's talent was so special but to showcase the songs in a manner that ensures they will be remembered and discovered by a new generation of listeners. The director appears to assume that, like "La Vie en Rose," every viewer will automatically respond to the strains of "Hymn l'Amour" and "Je Ne Regrette Rien."Perhaps like a majority of the movie-going public, the filmmaker has little interest in, let alone knowledge about, Piaf's music. His Piaf, despite any testimony to the contrary, lives not solely for her art but for love. Numerous musicians have made sacrifices and paid prices similar to Piaf's--but it was for the music. Great artists have to be willing to die for their art, but that's not the message of this script. Fortunately, Cotillard's Piaf emerges as far more than another tragic heroine or sensationalized story about the fall of a star. But why are we so attracted to a figure who from the start is so undeniably unattractive? That's the question we continually ask ourselves, even as the resonance and magnetism of her character lead us ever closer to the only place we're likely to find an answer--her art.The next move must be the spectator's.

Shows life and all its highs and lows. Beautifully acted and sticks with you long after you finish the movie.

[The DVD bought in 2008 had part near Le Acordioniste, Mr. Emer, where DVD became unreadable.] The film, Marion Cottiniard were amazing. I would add that those criticized film for being a little vulgar, well that was true to the character of Edith Piaf. EP was a one of a kind who took license to act the way she felt like acting, which for the most part brought out her prodigious talent as a singer and one who emotes what they sing. Moreover, due to her childhood challenges, she continued to feel under siege in her career and was never able to examine her bad, self-destructive habits, which went truly out of control at the death of her love, Marcel Cerdan. A film should ideally portray the real person not provide a sanitized version which some feel more comfortable with. Finally, I would address the issue of her behavior during WWII. I think her personal, developmental problems influenced that significantly as one who see herself as a person from the streets or living on the fringe, doesn't naturally transform into a 'resistance' fighter. That being said, she wasn't a collaborationist either, nor was she anti-Semitic, but she was a wounded survivor who did what her failed education and life experience compelled her to do.

rien à redire, pour découvrir edith piaf pour les plus jeunes, magnifique

Un'interpretazione molto intensa e veritiera della più famosa cantante del Novecento Edith Piaf...Peccato che il film abbia un po' tagliato la sua vita adolescenziale:ma si sa,i film in generale da qualche parte devono effettuare dei tagli!!

Could not find this dvd in Canada with English subtitles so had to purchase it from UK,..we are supposedly bi-lingual here in Canada but I could not find anyone selling dvd with English subtitles,... go figure.!

Una obra de arte que junta la música y la actuación excelente trabajo y la película no la encontré más que en Amazon la recomiendo

Película en la que cabe destacar la insuperable caracterización física de Marion Cotillard, la ambientación, y la excelente interpretación (playback) de algunos de los grandes éxitos de Edtih Piaf, especialmente "No, rien de rien". El DVD está en francés (difícil de seguir) exclusivamente y lleva subtítulos (no muy precisos) en inglés, lo que para repaso de idiomas viene bien. Recomendable. Saludos.