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That 'La Môme' AKA 'La Vie En Rose' is a triumph for
actress Marion Cotillard who manages to inhabit the persona
of Édith Piaf is a given. This is a powerful, deeply moving
tribute to a musical phenomenon whose impact on the world
remains as heady as during her short lifetime (December
19, 1915-October 11, 1963). She remains a French icon but
her singing and her life belong to the world: who can resist
her "poignant ballads performed in a heartbreaking voice",
the result of her life as an unwanted child, raised in a
brothel, starting her career as a street singer with her
circus contortionist father only to be discovered and given
the opportunity to sing in a cabaret, a move that brought
her to the attention of the world and made her one of the
most sought after singers on the world's stages? No matter
the degree of involvement in music, everyone has heard and
reacted to her most famous songs 'La vie en rose', 'Hymne
à l'amour', 'Milord', ' and of course her signature song
'Non, je ne regrette rien'.***
Writer/director Olivier Dahan (with assist from Isabelle
Sobelman) has elected to present Piaf's impact on the world
not as a linear biopic but rather as fragments from her
existence as a child protected in a brothel by prostitute
Titine (Emmanuelle Seigner), her life as a street singer
with her pal Mômone (Sylvie Testud), her 'discovery' by
Louis Leplée (Gérard Depardieu), her descent into alcoholism
and drug addiction after the loss of the love of her life
- a married boxer Marcel Cerdan (Jean-Pierre Martins), and
her eventual fame in New York. Oddly the impact she had
on the French people during World War II is ignored and
there are other large chunks of her life story that are
missing. But in the end the fragments we are given allow
us to empathize and understand the persona of Édith Piaf,
and that makes any other misgiving irrelevant.***
Devan obviously found the perfect actress in Marion
Cotillard ('A Very Long Engagement', 'A Good Life', 'Pretty
Things', etc) whose immersion in the role is breathtakingly
brilliant. The feature accompanying the film on the DVD
(already 141 minutes in length!) allows us to see and hear
the manner in which Devan and Cotillard recreated Piaf in
makeup, costume, body language and of course impeccable
lip-syncing of Piaf's songs. This is a film that lingers
in the mind not only as a memory of a great artist but also
as a reminder of how even the most broken of spirits can
survive and succeed. Stunning!
Grady Harp, November 07
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