La Vie en Rose provides a tantalizing introduction to the tiny dynamo that was Edith Piaf but it's far from being a definitive or enlightening portrait of the famous singer.
La Vie En Rose (2007)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:142
Fresh:105
Rotten:37
Average Rating:6.8/10
Consensus: The set design and cinematography are impressive, but the real achievement of La Vie en Rose is Marion Cotillard's mesmerizing, wholly convincing performance as Edith Pilaf.
Rated: PG-13 [See Full Rating] for substance abuse, sexual content, brief nudity, language and thematic elements.
Runtime: 2 hrs 21 mins
Genre: Foreign Films
Theatrical Release:Jun 8, 2007 Limited
Box Office: $10,126,918
Synopsis: According to Marlene Dietrich, chanteuse Edith Piaf's voice was "the soul of Paris." This French drama explores the often troubled life of the singer as her fame took her from the City of Lights to... According to Marlene Dietrich, chanteuse Edith Piaf's voice was "the soul of Paris." This French drama explores the often troubled life of the singer as her fame took her from the City of Lights to America to the South of France. Abandoned by her mother, Piaf grew up in her grandmother's brothel and her father's circus, which is hardly the fun one might imagine. While singing on the streets of Paris as a teen, Piaf (played as an adult by Marion Cotillard, A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT) is discovered by club owner Louis Leplée (Gérard Depardieu), and this chance encounter changes the woman's life. Her powerful voice takes her all over the globe, but it can't guard her from the pain and suffering she can't avoid. As Piaf, Cotillard is mesmerizing. She fully inhabits the singer's ivory skin, crafting a character that never descends into caricature or camp. She lip syncs to Piaf's legendary voice, but the performance is seamless. Like WALK THE LINE and RAY, this biopic creates a fascinating picture of an artist whose songs only begin to reflect the singer's painful life. But director-writer Olivier Dahan (LA VIE PROMISE) doesn't take the traditional biopic route with LA VIE EN ROSE. Instead, the film jumps between various moments in the singer's life, with little concern for linear narrative. Cotillard is just as adept at playing the teenage Piaf as she is the songbird on her deathbed at the age of 47, and it's her amazing performance that makes LA VIE EN ROSE worth seeing. [More]
Starring: Marion Cotillard, Gerard Depardieu, Sylvie Testud, Pascal Greggory
Starring: Marion Cotillard, Gerard Depardieu, Sylvie Testud, Pascal Greggory, Emmanuelle Seigner, Clotilde Courau, Jean Paul Rouve, Marc Barbe, Catherine Allégret, Manon Chevallier, Pauline Burlet, Elisabeth Commelin, Marc Gannot
Director: Oliver Dahan
Director: Oliver Dahan
Screenwriter: Olivier Dahan
Producer: Alain Goldman
Composer: Christopher Gunning
Studio: Picturehouse
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Reviews for La Vie En Rose
A sweepingly melodramatic and, in [director] Dahan's words, 'tragic, romantic blockbuster' of a movie that not only captures the (soap) operatic life of its subject with unflinching honesty but refuses to see her any other way.
It's not just Cotillard's performance that is astonishing. Those who can't see the brilliance in the rest of this film need to go back to film school.
Dahan makes us wait for the cathartic release until the very end; the effect is not manipulative but absolutely exhilarating.
Ms. Cotillard [is] the movie's centerpiece, and its end-all, be-all. It's a spectacular one-woman show, but not really a movie.
Olivier Dahan's sprawling portrait of the life of Edith Piaf is the kind of grand, passionate historical drama that no one seems to be able to pull off any more.
France's waiflike songbird Edith Piaf gets an involving cinematic treatment by director Oliver Dahan that resembles her messy and traumatic life.
The saucer-eyed Cotillard is convincing and astonishing, and she anchors a film that is less show-biz formulaic and more intriguing than its recent American counterparts, 'Walk the Line' and 'Ray.'
This isn't the first time Piaf's life has been brought to the screen and it probably won't be the last, but Cotillard makes this particular version stand apart.
Vivid and emotional--but also disjointed and melodramatic--Olivier Dahan's Edith Piaf biopic ... is all about Marion Cotillard's passionate performance.
I have to say I regret a few things after watching this formless and weirdly selective bio-pic of Edith Piaf.
There's no arguing the excellence of the performance at the center of this ambitious and erratic biopic about French singing sensation Edith Piaf.
An astonishing performance by Marion Cotillard as the legendary French chanteuse Edith Piaf whose life was a rollercoaster ride of exhilarating highs and incredibly depressing lows.
Una biografía inspirada, que repasa la vida de Edith Piaf desde la emoción y los recuerdos en lugar de ser una mera sucesión de acontecimientos. Marion Cotillard no interpreta a Piaf, es Piaf.
Ultimately, the film rests on [Cotillard's] performance. And there’s no better homage to a woman who lived for every time she stepped onto stage.
Fractured portrait of the singer is centred by some glorious samples of her music and a sterling central performance from Marion Cotillard.
Unlike its subject matter, there's just nothing spectacular or unique about Rose.
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