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Flicks, Team
I was hoping this film would suck so I could make the obvious jokes about regretting having seen it. Instead, after a slow start, it becomes compelling viewing showcasing an amazing performance, and legendary music.
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La Vie En Rose
Biopic of the lengendary French chanteuse Edith Piaf - covering the entirety of her tragic life from rural France to urban New York, from the 1920s to the 1960s - played by Marion Cotillard in an Academy Award-winning role.
Opening with her distressing last performance, where she collapses on stage, director Olivier Dahan backtracks to Piaf’s childhood in the muddy ruin of wartime Belleville. A virtual orphan, young Edith is discarded by her mother, taken in by prostitutes and then reclaimed by a father who 'discovers' her talent when she's forced to sing for their supper. Before long, she’s picked up by a nightclub owner (Depardieu) and soon becomes a revered, international performer, albeit one whose success was tempered by a lifelong battle with drugs.
Best Actress (Cotillard) at the Academy Awards, BAFTAs and Golden Globes in 2008.
2007Rating: M, offensive language, sexual references140 minsFrance, UK, Czech RepFrench with English subtitles
BiographyDramaMusic
La Vie En Rose / Reviews
Christchurch Press
Rather than focusing on a specific time period, Dahan tries to cover her whole life, which while understandable given the level of incident in it, does lend the film an unfortunate, episodic quality.
That's also not helped by Dahan's non-linear construction which has the film flitting back and forth in time, leaving the viewer often playing catch-up.
Such annoyances aside, La Vie is a fascinating look at one of the world's most feted and ill-fated singers...
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