La Vie En Rose Reviews

Give MARION COTILLARD BEST ACTRESS OSCAR now!

A five hankie biopic of Edith Piaf's tortured life featuring a spellbinding performance from Marion Cottilard as 'The Little Sparrow' EP.Never have I seen any actor so convincingly age 35 years, - (the film covers the years 1918-1963) - or so during a film.The film is not told chronologically, so for example, one moment you'll see Edith at her glowing happy zenith, when she is romancing heavyweight champion Marcel Cerdan and the next you'll see her bent double ravaged by debilitating illness in her final years. This is not just excellent make-up but an unequalled display of bravura acting skill. Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash,JamieFoxx as Ray Charles and Denzell as Malcolm X, all put in fine turns in recent biopics but this is something else-Cottilard IS Piaf. The two girls acting young Edith are also good,as is all the cast including a nice cameo as her kind-hearted manager from Gerard Depardieu.The stirring all-important music, (including a lovely acapella 'Marseillais') is magnificent throughout - having not been to a cinema for a long time,I was impressed with the top surround-sound you get there,far better than from DVDs at home.At one point there is a bone-shaking car crash where the noise is so visceral,I checked my legs to see if they were still there.One quibble would be that some of Piaf's more famous tunes did not feature subtitles.Another is that the film is maybe 20 minutes too long,-it could easily have finished after an affectingly staged death of a leading character and then there is a rather tacked-on bit where we belatedly discover that Edith revisited the sins done to her by her mother on a child of her own. Minor weaknesses however;if you don't cry and feel uplifted by this film,you have no soul.

What a disappointment!

A sad, hard, mixed-up life turned into a sad, hard, mixed-up film. Some beautiful moments but far too muddled - it could, and should, have been so much better!

Magical musical period piece. Give her an Oscar!

This is the magnificently told story of one of France’s most iconic singers, Edith Piaf, set in the early part of the 20th century. I liked it so much I bought the music CD and will probably buy a few other copies for friends too. I will probably buy the DVD as it is one to watch again. The expression ‘give her an Oscar’ seems never truer here. I hope she gets one.

The story broadly takes you from the singer’s rank poverty, her self-important non-parents, the discovery of her talent and her being briefly recognised as an international singing talent, alcohol being the omnipresent destroyer. The music performances in the film are an absolute delight.

There are lots of reason’s for seeing this film; if you are a Francophile (c’est moi), it is a must; if you know the name Edith Piaf but know nothing (like, where does ‘Café Piaf’ come from?), or heard that song ‘je ne regrette rien’, then this is a great opportunity to fill that history gap. A devout music fan? See it. Even as a piece of stand alone good film I would highly recommend it.

If you like special effects, Hollywood, Brad & Angelina, fast action and car chases, then don’t bother. Go buy a soda instead. But if you like learning something, period drama, history, beautiful music and Dépardieu, then this is for you. Don’t forget to have tissues and a bottle of good French wine close by.

[Highly rated reviewer]

INCREDIBLE ... SHE DESERVES AN OSCAR

I watched it last night and , my god, I didn't expected the movie to be that moving and certainly didn't expect the performance of Marion Cotillard.

The actress, such a gorgeous girl in real life , is totally transformed in this tortured woman who gave everything to her lovers , fans , friends and consumed herself for the love of...love.

I haven't witnessed such a performance for a long , long time . I was gobsmacked.

You live with her breath with her , suffer with her , love with her.

The photography is beautiful too and you go from one picture to another moving in time and space .

Beware people with deficit attention and adept of 'fast food cinema ' , this movie is a journey and it can seems quite long for some , but you can't condense her life and everything she's been through in 1h30.

There s no timeline either , you go back and forth , like a slideshow . it can seems messy for someone , it seemed crazy to me . Crazy like her , powerful like her music.

I'm french and the only bad point is the subtitles, during the songs, who , instead of translating the lyrics and make people aware of what she sings exactly, try to make them rhyme in english( What a stupid idea !!!), so you don't get an accurate idea of the power of the words. But all the rest is fine .

Just sit back, relax and let yourself go in the chaotic whirpool of Edith Piaf's soul.

Ho Hum......

Got it for the music which there wasn't enough of , slow and pretty dreary overall.

a let down

I read the reviews for this film, and was really looking forward to it as I love French films, and Edith Piaf's music. The film was very disappointing. The acting was fantastic, the singing beautiful, but the sets were old fashioned and clunky. The lighting was terrible and the storyline was really muddled. It really got in the way, and became very irritating to watch.

[Highly rated reviewer]

Scrappy movie failing to engage.....

Scrappy movie failing to engage the viewer or promote empathy with the subject matter. Few moments of brilliance but not enough to warrant watching. Disappointing

Confused film

Although the main actress was very good and sang well the story was confused in many places, the film was very dark and most of the songs were unknown so we didn't get to hear mopst of her best music and we were bored very early on.

Je regret...

Whilst it is hard to disagree with any reviews about Cotillard's performance, it is a shame that she was let down by the director's idea to film Piaf's 'life' in a disjointed and muddled time-line. Presumably, this was to portray the mad way in which Piaf lived her life and may herself have found it a mess. Unfortunately, it left me feeling that I had learned little or nothing more about the singer's life than I already knew. Cotillard's magnificent performance should have been enhanced by the film and not hidden in a mish-mash of directorial 'creativity'. Cotillard 5 stars, director 2 stars, hence only 3 stars for the film.

[Highly rated reviewer]

La Vie En Rose

This film was very disappointing - disjointed - and it seemed to be filmed mostly in the dark! The acting was good, but flitting between the early years of Piaf and the later years I found very confusing.