by Reed Daigle

Created on: June 21, 2008

La Vie En Rose
A movie review

Olivier Dahan's La Vie En Rose uses a tumultuous narrative style to tell the story of famed French singer Edith Piaf, convincingly and passionately portrayed by Marion Cotillard. Though we see Piaf's early childhood near the beginning, and her death near the end, her life story is shown in random order, jumping back and forth through time. Despite being a bit disjointed and hard to follow at times, this method of editing the story effectively represents Edith Piaf's tumultuous life.

With cinematographer Tetsuo Nagata, Dahan juxtaposes scenes of somber tones with others of rich, brilliant saturated reds and greens, portraying themes of passionate living amidst Piaf's grim life circumstances. There is also a marked contrast between the times when she is successful or on stage, and the times when she is growing up or battling with her addictions.

The majority of the songs in the film were actual recordings of Edith Piaf. I had read that Dahan didn't think it was possible to reproduce Edith Piaf's voice. I believe this is true. Edith's voice is so powerful, and you can understand the sense of her songs even if you don't understand French. This choice, besides portraying Piaf's authentic voice, accentuates Marion Cotillard's performance. To see someone sing with such conviction, though really only lip-syncing, is quite astounding.

It is no wonder that Cotillard won the Academy Award for Best Actress for this role. She was so convincing, even as the prematurely aged Edith Piaf. Her strength as an actress is especially evident in a scene nearly two hours into the film. This particular scene is one of the most amazing I've scene in years. It is comprised of one shot that I imagine is steadicam. (If there can be a spoiler of the biopic of a famous singer, then this is it.) The scene begins with Edith Piaf lying in bed, waiting for Marcel Cerdan, the famous boxer and her current lover. He approaches her in bed. After a couple of kisses, she goes to get coffee, appearing genuinely happy. We follow her through a few rooms to get the coffee, seeing a friend sitting in the kitchen, and return to Marcel. She then searches for a gift she has for Marcel. A few other friends are in the large apartment. She begins to search frantically for the gift and yells at her friends, who all appear forlorn, to help her search. She then learns that Marcel, on his way to see her, has died in a plane crash. She returns to the bedroom, realizes that she had only imagined

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