La Vie en Rose (2007)

La Vie en Rose. Film review. Hollywood or i should say, the Academy loves a famous singer biopic. Myself, given the ridiculous amount of love i had toward musical films, never really complains about these musician biopic. Although of course, not all of them wound up its way into my personal liking. La Vie en Rose depicted the life of Edith Piaf, a supposedly international famous French singer whose of course, name i've never heard before. Her careers spans the period between 1935 until her death in 1963.

La Vie en Rose tried to capture the hard life of Edith Piaf, her abandoned childhood in Paris, growing up in a filthy brothel, edging on the harsh street life, doing a street singing to keep him from doing prostitution, her eventual discovery, her fame, and her final show.

The film, which runs for more than two hours, was slow and its contents were mostly depressing enough that the weigh of it all could made your back stooped just like Marion Cotillard's in this film. The film was told in a non-linear way as it was jumped back and forth in Edith's life without seemingly had some uniformity or frame. Despite that, rather than leaving me confused, i found that the approach was effective. I felt like i was playing a puzzle, where another pieces is another revealing surprise. The fact that i didn't know anything about Edith Piaf helped.

However, the one true shining star, the one that helped me through the otherwise slow and excruaciating experience is of course, Marion Cotillard. She portrays most of Edith's life from her scraping in the streets, her golden moments, to her waning years. The makeup was awesome, Marion Cotillard is actually a very beautiful actress but she was convincing portraying a woman that looks like she was at least 60 years of age and had her health already deteriorating away. That, and the fact that Academy Awards loves biopic landed her a deserving golden statue for Best Actress. You know, this should put Gwyneth Paltrow to shame for winning the Best Actress in 1999. She should returns her golden statue.

The makeup helps, but it would be a meaningless feat without Marion Cotillard's performance. She fits into Edith Piaf, she becomes Edith Piaf herself, as if her own personal life wasn't that much different from Edith's as portrayed in the film. You (well at least i) would gave her your sympathies, would gave your pity, would hate her, and love her, i was appreciated to see that despite of her flaws (aren't we all, human, had our own flaws?), and her cockiness, in the end, she was a lovable person and i could see why everyone around her stays with her until the end and why was when the curtain is up is her single favorite moment. This film won't exist, won't even be remembered had there wasn't for Marion Cotillard.

Sure, the film was long. Sure, the film was slow. For some of you, keeping yourself awake was might be too hard a task, but, for myself, the film builds up its own suspense. My favorite scene was where Edith knitting beside a beach doing what probably was very her last interview.