La Vie en Rose

[glebb]

Best film I've seen in ages. As a matter of fact I saw it again a week later.

Marion Cotillard had better win the Oscar.

[Alexandra]

I saw it two weekends ago and have thought of it constantly since. I agree, glebb -- TERRIFIC performance. The first half was hard to watch (ghastly childhood, not a particulary lovable woman), but an extraordinary talent, of course. I also thought it was one of the best portraits of an artist. I nearly posted my favorite scene, but that would be a spoiler, so I won't

[glebb]

Curiosity is killing this cat Alexandra!

Just a hint for me?

Marcel?

Olympia?

[Alexandra]

How about, the scene that links private life with the stage in one shot. (After Marcel.) Will that help?

[glebb]

Oui. Absolutement!

[Alexandra]

Bon!

Anyway, everyone should see it And brings lots of kleenex. And then go out and buy every Edith Piaf record you can find!!

Glebb, it occurred to me, as "No regrets" kept ringing in my head, that she sang everything as though it were "La Marseillaise"!

[glebb]

Yes Alexandra, a huge voice from that little sparrow.

I have purchased the soundtrack from iTunes and keep listening to 'Milord'.

There is a vivacious Josephine Baker song in the backround earlier in the film that I wish I could find.

[papeetepatrick]

and keep listening to 'Milord'.

I've been listening to 'Milord' myself on an older recording--am mad for this song..'Je suis une fille du port, l'ombre de la rue...'. Also 'Je Sais Comment', over and over. I've been afraid to see the film, because I have a hard time imagining anybody doing Piaf, no matter how good. I heard they were going to do a Marlene Dietrich movie, too, and it was originally going to be Gwyneth Paltrow, and I didn't want anybody to do Marlene either. I guess it's all her voice in the songs, though, isn't it?

[Alexandra]

I think it's Piaf's voice. (Although a friend told me that the actress did sing some of the songs.) Marlene (a faux, but very good, Marlene) has a walk on in this one, papeetepatrick.

I'm fond of "Milord," too, glebb. All of them, really.

[glebb]

I knew of Piaf's impact and fame papeetepatrick but not much more than that so this film really blew me away.

I wanted to stay and see it a second time right away after my first viewing. It was not easy to wait a whole week to see it again.

The actress is marvelous in my eyes, a Goddess!

It would be fun to see a good Marlene bio and I hope they would not leave out Mae West.

I loved Sian Phillips on Broadway. Would she be too old do the film?

I also enjoy 'Heaven Have Mercy', 'Rien de Rien', 'Padam Padam' and 'Non, Je ne Regrette Rien' to name a few, Alexandra.

[Mme. Hermine]

..........Mon Dieu..........

[bart]

Just reading the names of the songs produces -- instantly -- a recollection of the unique sound and the intense feeling behind the words. I also love "Milord." To get an idea of how subtle Piaf could be -- believe it or not -- just try to imagine how Lotte Lenya would have sung that one.

P.S. You guys have to stop reminding me of the favorites of my youth. Every time you do so, I have to go to Amazon and get a cd to replace the lost LP or the dusty tape. It's getting expensive!

[papeetepatrick]

It would be fun to see a good Marlene bio and I hope they would not leave out Mae West.

I loved Sian Phillips on Broadway. Would she be too old do the film?

Yes, if they do one, they mustn't leave out Mae West, but who can really do a real Mae West either? The only time I really found this kind of screen bio to work was Mommie Dearest, but I have heard many raves about 'La Vie en Rose' before the discussion today.

Sian Phillips did Marlene some 15-17 years ago, I believe? A close friend of mine was a Marlene freak and was always sitting in the front row of her shows and got to know her somewhat--but did like Sian Phillips. On the other hand, she's now 74, so she could do a picture about the late period, which was mostly sad, because she was bedridden for so much of it.

For those buying CD's of Piaf, I did notice something recently. I have an old LP of her in the last few years of her life from the Olympia--with Theo Sarapo. But the CDs of her earlier career are truly more beautiful, there is a great difference in the strength of her voice when young. The song 'A Quoi Ca Sert, L'Amour' with Sarapo, her charming companion, is very nice, but you'll hear better 'Je ne Regrette Rien' and 'Milord' and 'Histoire de l'Amour' in some of the oldest recordings. Don't forget 'Le Diable de la Bastille' and 'La Musique a Tout Va' and 'Le Petit Brouillard'.

[carbro]

Yes, if they do one, they mustn't leave out Mae West, but who can really do a real Mae West either?

Bette Midler.

[dirac]

and keep listening to 'Milord'.

I've been listening to 'Milord' myself on an older recording--am mad for this song..'Je suis une fille du port, l'ombre de la rue...'. Also 'Je Sais Comment', over and over. I've been afraid to see the film, because I have a hard time imagining anybody doing Piaf, no matter how good. I heard they were going to do a Marlene Dietrich movie, too, and it was originally going to be Gwyneth Paltrow, and I didn't want anybody to do Marlene either. I guess it's all her voice in the songs, though, isn't it?

I'm afraid I avoided this movie deliberately in the belief that Piaf like Judy Garland has been done to death. Plainly, I was mistaken. Thank you, glebb, for starting the topic and recommending the film. Good to hear from you in this forum.

I like Paltrow well enough but can't see her as Dietrich, at all.....

[glebb]

My pleasure dirac.

I'm sure I'll see this film again and can't wait for more from Marion Cotillard.

I would prefer to see unknowns or at least lesser knowns as Dietrich and West.

[dirac]

I did catch this on DVD recently, and although it’s watchable I am sorry to report I didn't care for it much. Do forgive me, glebb. Part of the difficulty is the biopic genre; there are the scenes of struggle, the big break scene, the pinnacle of stardom scenes, etc., and La Vie en Rose doesn’t always avoid cliche. We even get a fictional Hooker with a Heart of Gold. There's surprisingly little sense of the artist, except for the view that Suffering Made Her Great, which may have been true in part but isn't exactly an overpowering insight.

The arty flashbacks didn’t work for me as storytelling or as drama; the time leaps are sometimes jarring in unhelpful ways, and there’s a particularly bad patch at the end when the writer/director, Olivier Dahan, pulls out another personal tragedy like a rabbit from a hat. Some events are shown in such a way that they make little or no sense – the death of Louis Leplée is botched thoroughly, you have little idea of what’s going on except that our heroine is unhappy again. And you’d get the impression from this movie that that’s all she was; even if you’re not familiar with the events of Piaf’s life, the movie shows you what’s coming and emphasizes the bad stuff, of which there was admittedly plenty, so everything is just one long foreshadowing of the ghastly end and you’re basically sitting there watching Edith’s Magical Misery Tour. (The jumping around also puts a lid on coherent character development, and for me it limited the story’s emotional power as well; just as I was getting involved with Piaf at one point, I’d get yanked away, and after a point it simply became annoying.) Piaf was not above self mythologizing, in the way of many great stars, but Dahan delivers everything absolutely straight.

I would have hoped for more singing, too. The songs that we do get are fine, and Marion Cotillard’s performance is a strong argument for the virtues of lip-synching, but even more would have been welcome and some of the songs are snipped up or interrupted.

One of the virtues of the musical biopic as a genre is that you’re likely to get a fine perfomance at the center and Cotillard does not fail in this respect, especially in the beginning showing us Piaf as an almost feral street arab (and she’s good at showing us how Piaf never quite lost this quality even at the height of success). She’s considerably taller than Piaf and yet manages to shrink herself down to size. (There were times when she reminded of Giulietta Masina, in ways both bad and good.)

And in a movie that lasts almost two and a half hours, Dahan found no room for World War II, a period during which Piaf was rather busy onstage and off. It's a serious omission, and I wonder if the time hopping method was a way of skirting it.

[glebb]

Forgiven dirac. We can't all agree all the time. I knew very little about Piaf before I saw the film so I'm sure that made it easier for me to enjoy the story.

I do wonder if seeing this film on DVD as opposed to the big screen with big sound makes a difference.

Just reading your review reminded me of everything I loved about the picture and I got goose bumps.

It's still one of my favorites and I can't wait to see it again.

[dirac]

I do wonder if seeing this film on DVD as opposed to the big screen with big sound makes a difference.

I expect that it did. The stage sequences would have carried considerably more force on the big screen, I think. I'm sorry I missed it in theatres.

[Old Fashioned]

I guess it's all her voice in the songs, though, isn't it?

According to the latest Newsweek, the voice behind Cotillard is actually Jil Aigrot. A clip of Cotillard singing Milord with French pop star Jenifer (?) can be found on youtube. It's definitely not her voice in the movie.

[dirac]

Thanks for that tidbit, Old Fashioned. I knew Cotillard was lip synching but not the details. (Fine by me, incidentally. I much prefer a convincing job of lip synching to inferior vocals.)

[Andrew73]

"France's Marion Cotillard was rewarded for her interpretation of Edith Piaf in La Vie En Rose with a best actress Oscar."

Well deserved, in my view - though I agree with those above who said that the film needs seeing on the big screen to get the best effect.

I think that's true of many bio-pics; they soften the edges, both visually, and in dialog, and it's much easier to 'suspend reality' at the cinema than it is at home!

[dirac]

"France's Marion Cotillard was rewarded for her interpretation of Edith Piaf in La Vie En Rose with a best actress Oscar."

And she was so thrilled to get it - I haven't seen an actor that excited to win since Adrien Brody. As I mentioned on the Oscar thread, I think there should be a moratorium on actors winning for playing 'real people,' but how could you not be happy for her.