La Vie En Rose (2 Disc Special Edition) [DVD] [2007]

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!

Great film

This is a wonderful French biographical musical film about the life of French singer Édith Piaf. Spoken in French throughout, the DVD has very accurate subtitles and is easy to follow for non-French speakers. Lead actress Marion Cotillard won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance - she thoroughly deserved it. Cotillard gives the performance of a lifetime to intriguingly portray the famous French singer. Covering many decades, the film depicts Cotillard representing a women of considerably different ages, from a teenager right up to the forty seven years that Piaf died at. However, as Piaf was so ill, Cotillard actually was made up to look at least twenty years older than this. It was a stunning achievement from the make-up team to recreate Cotillard to look as old as this, and she showed her full range as an actress - she is utterly convincing portraying the singer at every age. Cotillard's overall performance is astounding. She brings so much emotion and realism to the part that you cannot help but believe she is Piaf. Her portrayal of Piaf's stage fright, raw sense of humour, vulnerability and energetic singing is breathtaking - and the constant manic use of her deep, dark wide eyes is totally convincing. And, her anguished reaction to the death of Marcel in an airplane crash is incredibly emotive and realistic. It is unlikely that any other actress could have matched the ferocity and intensity delivered by Cotillard. The film charts the course of the life of Piaf, starting as a child, drifting into prostitution, and her starting to sing. Her father had abandoned her early in her life, but he returns to enter her into the world of show business, all-be-it accidentally as she gives an impromptu rendition of "La Marseillaise" on a street corner, and continues singing - eventually being noticed by a nightclub owner, and her career develops from there. As her life progresses she has alcohol and morphine addiction problems, as well as arthritis, which decimate her physical and mental state. One potential weakness in the film is the continual jumping backwards and forwards in time, showing Piaf in old age, and going back to the past to unfold key events. Although it worked well at times, the director Olivier Dahan may have over-reached himself by time-traveling too often. At times, the flow and momentum of the film was interrupted and disjointed. This non-linear technique was applauded by many of the critics, but for me it was too much. Overall, Cotillard's performance masks any flaws in the movie. It ends with Piaf dramatically performing "Non, je ne regrette rien" at the Olympia - a spine-tingling finale to a champagne performance.

I'd always been aware of the fact that Edith Piaf had had a miserable life. It was only when I saw this film that I realised just HOW miserable. Yet her belief in the redeeming power of love, a belief which only seemed to get stronger in the wake of her tragic affair with boxer Marcel Cerdan and his death in a plane crash, seemed to drive her to the heights of the entertainment business - her performances were truly remarkable. Marion Cotillard, lip-synching to Piaf's own voice, is a superb actress and this film is compelling throughout...it's not always pretty and some of it is really painful to watch, but it feels like a highly accurate porrayal of Piaf's life. The film's quirky narrative structure - it keeps jumping forwards and back in time - is occasionally rather annoying (a linear structure would have worked equally well, if not better), but it doesn't distract too much. Even the subtitling is excellent. The rhyme 'the hooker is a looker' for the beginning of L'Accordeoniste actually works better in English than it could in French! Overall, an unmissable film.

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

Très satisfaite 👌

Could not find this dvd in Canada with English subtitles so had to purchase it from UK,..we are supposedly bi-lingual here in Canada but I could not find anyone selling dvd with English subtitles,... go figure.!

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