La Vie en Rose
DVD REVIEW
La Vie en Rose
Certificate: 12
Director: Olivier Dahan
Edith Piaf, one of the finest French singers of all time, had a short and tragic life. She had a miserable childhood after her mother abandoned her. As her father had to fight in the Great War she was shunted round a number of relatives and brought up in a brothel owned by her grandmother. She later accompanied her father as a street performer in Paris. As a teenager she busked in the streets with her friend Mômond before her discovery by Pere LePlee, a gay sleazy nightclub owner. He was sleazy. He was linked to organised crime but he did recognise real talent when he saw it. He changed her name to La Môme Piaf: the little sparrow.
This biopic is often confusing with a range of flash-forwards and flash-backs. We see Edith the sickly child, Edith the dying performer. Edith the lively busker. Edith the performer with the world at her feet. Edith falling for the boxer, Marcel. Edith mourning Marcel after his death in a plane crash. A tired and worn out Edith getting a new lease of life with a new song, Je ne Regrette rein which she recognises as her life in song.
Marion Cotillard gives a blistering performance in this superb biopic of the troubled chanteusse. In her later years Piaf was crippled with rheumatism and afflicted with alcoholism. Cotillard uncannily mimics Piaf's gestures and style in later life as easily as she does her fresh and lively start in showbusiness. Based on this performance she should go far in her future career.
This has to be the best biopic since Walk the Line told the story of Johnny Cash and June Carter. The music is superb too. On its release in France the film broke box-office records and has been well-received in North America and Britain. The new DVD release has a second disc of fascinating extras including a short film about the real Edith Piaf based on the memories of her friend Mômond.
La Vie en Rose
Certificate: 12
Director: Olivier Dahan
Edith Piaf, one of the finest French singers of all time, had a short and tragic life. She had a miserable childhood after her mother abandoned her. As her father had to fight in the Great War she was shunted round a number of relatives and brought up in a brothel owned by her grandmother. She later accompanied her father as a street performer in Paris. As a teenager she busked in the streets with her friend Mômond before her discovery by Pere LePlee, a gay sleazy nightclub owner. He was sleazy. He was linked to organised crime but he did recognise real talent when he saw it. He changed her name to La Môme Piaf: the little sparrow.
This biopic is often confusing with a range of flash-forwards and flash-backs. We see Edith the sickly child, Edith the dying performer. Edith the lively busker. Edith the performer with the world at her feet. Edith falling for the boxer, Marcel. Edith mourning Marcel after his death in a plane crash. A tired and worn out Edith getting a new lease of life with a new song, Je ne Regrette rein which she recognises as her life in song.
Marion Cotillard gives a blistering performance in this superb biopic of the troubled chanteusse. In her later years Piaf was crippled with rheumatism and afflicted with alcoholism. Cotillard uncannily mimics Piaf's gestures and style in later life as easily as she does her fresh and lively start in showbusiness. Based on this performance she should go far in her future career.
This has to be the best biopic since Walk the Line told the story of Johnny Cash and June Carter. The music is superb too. On its release in France the film broke box-office records and has been well-received in North America and Britain. The new DVD release has a second disc of fascinating extras including a short film about the real Edith Piaf based on the memories of her friend Mômond.
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