La Vie en Rose (Extended Version)

Beautiful film, thoughtfully structured. Normally multiple flashbacks are a huge red flag, but in this case it works. Ms. Cotillard is astonishing, downplaying her own beauty and disappearing into Piaf. The shoot must have been physically and psychically brutal. The only flaws with the story are not the film makers' particular fault. One, Piaf has no arc (outside of her career). She was a reactive person by nature and remained so through-out her life. They try to give her a sense of peace and reflection in a scene on a California beach but it is one of the few scenes that rings hollow. The other (minor) issue is obviously this is a French film and the makers tend to assume that a French audience will mostly know the (tragic) beats of her story, such is her status in the pantheon. For an American audience, however, this is problematic. Piaf's daughter is introduced by her childhood death by meningitis. It is horrible, but less horrible than it might have been had we known she even had a daughter by a husband we had just met. Also WW2 is skipped over with one throw away scene where she meets a soldier leaving for the front. Her affair with Cerdan, however, is wonderfully done, handled with both substance and great delicacy. His death tears your heart out - even if you know it is coming. The actor who plays Cerdan is credible as both the man and the boxer. I'm sure most Americans don't know France ever had a serious boxer, much less a world champion, but it is true. A fine, fine portrayal. Finally, the music. I am no musicologist so I am not going to comment on that, but her performances and songs will outlive all of us, and the film is both generous and clever in handling the music. This is what they used to call a twenty hankie movie, and it is all of that. Preparez vos mouchoirs, as they say. A couple of interesting points: Claude Lelouch made 'Edith and Marcel' in '83 casting Cerdan's real son as his father. I'm not going to comment until I can go back and screen it again, it's been too many years, but it is probably worth digging up. Finally, a film about Cerdan starring Patrick Dewaere was in production when Dewaere committed suicide, the awful loss of a wonderful young actor.

I had to go back and see this film a second time in order to be certain that I had seen the performance that I had seen. Marianne Cotillard (sp?), who is actually very beautiful and somewhat tall and thin, WAS Edith Piaf in this film. Whoever Edith Piaf was. And therein lies a tale, because there are so many contradictory stories about her, including those from her, from her so-called "sister", from friends, from reviewers. I had to go and read all of the bios that I could find about Piaf, and it was amazing how different they all were. Even Edith herself wrote two different auto-bios and they were quite different from each other. But the movie draws you in and claims you for the entirety of the film. And there is no question it is due to the performance. The film itself is not great, but the performance is breathtaking. I have now seen it three times and have, of course, pre-ordered the DVD. But for those who love film, who love actors, who love brilliance, I strongly recommend that they sit back and enjoy this unusual, wonderful, inhabited performance. Jan Schulman

Inspiring and fast moving storyline with incredibly good acting. You will love it if you watch this movie.

I love to watch movies based on true events/biography. Love her songs and wanted to know about her life. Enjoyed watching it!!!

It seems contradictory to praise a film for its star's performance while faulting it for overly busy, manipulative editing. In the hands of a clever filmmaker-editor-scriptwriter, most of us could come off looking reasonably competent. But as will be clear even to those unfamiliar with Edith Piaf's life or music, Marion Cotillard gives perhaps the most impressive performance of the new millennium in the role of "The Little Sparrow." Somehow she manages to stay a cut ahead of Olivier Dahan's overly slick and clever movie with her mercurial changes--one moment mousey and woebegone, the next an out-of-control feral cat on the attack; a Tomboyish and modest international star one moment, a demanding and self-destructive diva the next; a weathered and withered little scarecrow one instant, a noble and courageous heroine the next. Her body and facial language are equally expressive--both telling us the story of Edith Piaf less through script than sheer rhetoric of character. Nevertheless, I'd recommend the viewer read a brief account of Edith Piaf's life (Wickipedia is pretty good) before watching the film. Besides moving his camera all over the place and violating temporal-spatial conventions, writer-director Dahan tends to embed flashbacks within flashbacks, requiring the viewer to keep four or more time periods simultaneously in mind, and he frequently cuts to a character about whose identity (in some cases, "reality") we remain clueless until much later in the sequence. Better to get the plot-story business out of the way lest it distract from Cotillard's extraordinary accomplishment. Unfortunately, there's another reason to do a quick prep on Piaf's life and career before viewing film. Like the vast majority of biopics about musicians (Billie Holiday, Cole Porter, Charlie Parker, Dexter Gordon immediately come to mind), the film fails not only to show us why Piaf's talent was so special but to showcase the songs in a manner that ensures they will be remembered and discovered by a new generation of listeners. The director appears to assume that, like "La Vie en Rose," every viewer will automatically respond to the strains of "Hymn l'Amour" and "Je Ne Regrette Rien." Perhaps like a majority of the movie-going public, the filmmaker has little interest in, let alone knowledge about, Piaf's music. His Piaf, despite any testimony to the contrary, lives not solely for her art but for love. Numerous musicians have made sacrifices and paid prices similar to Piaf's--but it was for the music. Great artists have to be willing to die for their art, but that's not the message of this script. Fortunately, Cotillard's Piaf emerges as far more than another tragic heroine or sensationalized story about the fall of a star. But why are we so attracted to a figure who from the start is so undeniably unattractive? That's the question we continually ask ourselves, even as the resonance and magnetism of her character lead us ever closer to the only place we're likely to find an answer--her art. The next move must be the spectator's.

Un film magnifique qui raconte la vie d'Edith Piaf, une grande Dame.

A wonderful mesmerising film. As a film subject this Piaf will not be bettered.`La Vie en Rosé' is much more than just a movie, it is truly a cinematic experience. I watched the film on DVD and was transfixed for 135 hypnotic minutes as the harrowing tale of the life of Edith Piaf progressed towards its inevitable conclusion. The movie is a gut-wrenching, mesmeric piece of cinema that left me drained for some time after the end titles had long faded! Piaf's story is shot in a non-linear format - and all the better for that in my view as much of the essential story, including some of the songs, would have piled up in the last third of the film. The flashback sequences, of which there are many, are in any case not difficult to follow and make for the interesting, attention gripping technique that the film demands. Marion Cottliard's performance as Piaf is an astonishing piece of acting. The part called for her to age from 19 to 43 years. The movie has a large cast (all except a couple or so actors will probably be unknown to most audiences beyond followers of French cinema), the film is all about the central character and Cottliard is in the frame more or less throughout the entire movie. The cinematography is superb, almost `noir' , and the Parisian streets of Piaf's childhood marvellously depicted. Everything about this film is beyond praise. The acting, the direction and especially the lip-syncing of Cottliard (it is the real Piaf we are listening too for the songs) are near miraculous. The make-up artists do a great `ageing' job as Piaf grows older with her deteriorating health problems and with her costumes it really does seem that this is not a movie being watched but a live concert. If this film does not feature strongly in the Academy Awards there is simply no justice! Post Script. Since I wrote this critique, Marianne Cottliard has won the BAFTA best actress award, and a few weeks later in Hollywood the Academy Award (Oscar) for best actress. Justice was indeed done!

Très satisfaite 👌

Excelente producto y tiempo de entrega!!! 😊 Lo único es que viene en región 1 y no es compatible en la mayoría de los reproductores.

Film molto interessante. Una storia toccante, affascinante e non sempre conosciuta di un'artista particolare, piccola fuori ma enorme ed ingombrante come personalità. Mi ha emozionato molto. Lo consiglio per chi ha interesse per lei, per la sua musica e per la musica in generale. Spedizione eccellente