La Vie en Rose

Picturehouse Entertainment | Release Date: June 8, 2007

7.8	USER SCORE Generally favorable reviews based on 125 Ratings

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JasonGMar 15, 2011

Marion Cotillard is absolutely captivating in her innocent and arrogant portrayal of The Little Sparrow. The slums of Paris are beautiful thanks to the rich music and character and song - while New York has never looked more glamorous than itMarion Cotillard is absolutely captivating in her innocent and arrogant portrayal of The Little Sparrow. The slums of Paris are beautiful thanks to the rich music and character and song - while New York has never looked more glamorous than it does surrounding Edith Piaf. Watching La vie en Rose was like attending a marvellous art gallery that comes to life and sucks you in.
However, the film starts as many biographical features do; late in the career of the subject and with ominous signs of the impending downward spiral. We then cut to Edith's childhood and one can assume that what follows is her life and lead-up to the film's opening scene. Instead the film jumps to moments in her life that both precede and follow the opener with no discernible pattern. At first this seemed simply an artistic method of film making but eventually became a confusing maze of snippets of film, so much so that I began to wonder if the film was going to ever end - and when the final scenes did come, I found I wasn't quite ready for them.
Nevertheless, Cotillard's performance was without fault, the music is nothing short of beautiful and overall La vie en Rose is a very touching film.… Expand

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MarylnLJul 13, 2007

Excellent acting, but two hours of unmitigated misery. Ignored much in Piaf's life that would have provided context, depth and appreciation for her contributions. Why, for example, are Piaf's actions during France's Nazi Excellent acting, but two hours of unmitigated misery. Ignored much in Piaf's life that would have provided context, depth and appreciation for her contributions. Why, for example, are Piaf's actions during France's Nazi occupation omitted? A confusing and superficial soap opera that doesn't look beyond Piaf's self-destructive tendencies.… Expand

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ArthurKJul 19, 2007

It may be non-linear on purpose, but 140 minutes of artistic flashbacks with few fact clarifying scenes makes this movie a bear to watch. The acting is great though and for anyone having grown up in France during that period, the "chansons" It may be non-linear on purpose, but 140 minutes of artistic flashbacks with few fact clarifying scenes makes this movie a bear to watch. The acting is great though and for anyone having grown up in France during that period, the "chansons" of Edith Piaf are deeply nostalgic.… Expand

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JimGJun 17, 2007

Very enjoyable biopic. **SPOILERS** The time-shifting gets a distractingly aggressive; a generous interpretation would be that the more rapid jumps between shorter snippets is brought to a crescendo in the final flash of her life before her Very enjoyable biopic. **SPOILERS** The time-shifting gets a distractingly aggressive; a generous interpretation would be that the more rapid jumps between shorter snippets is brought to a crescendo in the final flash of her life before her eyes. The music is incorporated well and it was a relief to see many circumstances where the overdub of Piaf recordings was not forced into an obligatory lip-sync. Some of the imagery/transitions were delightfully clever. Cotillard does a good job, despite appearing to be a stage actress caught on film. The overall effect is worth it.… Expand

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amheretojudgeMay 19, 2019

Cotillard is alone on the stage, more than two hours of distraction is needed, gaze into her eyes and groove as she grooves.

La Vie En Rose Dahan whispers the high pitched note with an authentic old style method. His calmness in the film isCotillard is alone on the stage, more than two hours of distraction is needed, gaze into her eyes and groove as she grooves.

La Vie En Rose

Dahan whispers the high pitched note with an authentic old style method. His calmness in the film is to be enjoyed. The director and co-writer, Olivier Dahan oozes warmth in Edith Piaf's life by embracing her innocence. His key ingredient is Edith Piaf (Marion Cotillard) being unaware of the social rigmarole which is usually much more sensitive and turned to 11, when you are a recognizable face in this show business. Tackling that very issue with different perspectives and going in step by step, taking his time, just like the enacted boxing match, he is hitting the right punches in every round. And so what if he asks for your patience, if the fruit is this.. fruit-y, be patient.

Another major hurdle he successfully jumps over, is the poignancy of the world painted in here. Despite of some jarring moves taken in her life, the film perpetually remains uplifting and full of hope; it is perfectly edited. Tiny aspects like make-up, costume design and stunningly shot musical sequences, helps Cotillard boost her performance as this infamous and beloved singer. Never for a frame, she flinches and you fall deep in her innocent big eyes forgetting an actor is acting, pretending to sing, and more importantly falling.

On terms of structure, the film pretty much is created with the understanding of being a textbook biography, visiting various range of characters in the form of guest appearances there is very little for us to stick by this train of social visits. This is the part where Dahan loses his audience for a brief period, switching from one scene to another, a push was much needed and unfortunately Cotillard is tied by her hands in those situation so not even her Jazz-ing La Vie En Rose will save this night.… Expand

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FilipeNetoDec 12, 2020

Edith Piaf is certainly one of the most unmistakable voices in 20th century music and one of the most successful and iconic singers in European music. Her life, in fact, deserved a film adaptation, but I think, after what I saw in this film,Edith Piaf is certainly one of the most unmistakable voices in 20th century music and one of the most successful and iconic singers in European music. Her life, in fact, deserved a film adaptation, but I think, after what I saw in this film, that it gives us a somewhat bleached and "sanctified" view of that singer. I can understand that the production wanted to avoid controversies or displeasing the artist's fans by revealing ugly or arguable moments in Piaf's life, but I think it would have been bold and interesting to do so.

In fact, Edith Piaf had a life full of dark and painful moments, which the film chooses to ignore or to relativize. She was born in a poor neighbourhood of Paris, in an unstructured family with connexions to North Africa (Edith's grandmother was a Berber): her mother was a coffee singer, her father was an acrobat and their marriage was the worst that it could be, with mutual betrayals and violence. The breakup led Piaf's mother to become a prostitute and leave her daughter with her negligent Berber mother, which led his father to take her to the brothel where her mother works while he himself goes to the First World War. In 1922, he comes back to take her, introducing her to the artistic life and, thus, having a strong influence on her life. It was her father's insistence on marriage that made Piaf walk away after several fights. Another topic that this film surprisingly addresses lightly is the hectic love life of Piaf, who at 17 went to live with her boyfriend and became a mother, fleeing almost immediately due to domestic violence, living in hiding and going to the justice for a custody dispute, which she lost (her daughter died a few years later). Wounded, perhaps more than we can imagine, Piaf never married or had children again, despite her several well-known boyfriends and lovers. Even more impressive is the fact that the film took a "leap" in time between 1938 and 1948, ignoring what the singer might have done during World War II and the German occupation of France. The omission is all the more serious as the fact that she had a dubious activity in this period, along with a brilliant artistic life, for which she was severely criticized by the French, even being accused of treason and of having collaborated with the Nazis. Piaf defended herself by saying that she actually collaborated, but with the French Resistance. Is it true? I honestly don't know and the film chose to leave the subject. But, even if we don't want to go that way, here we have an artist who knew hunger, misery, social degradation, family and domestic violence, the pain of losing a child and having a bad relationship with both parents. A life of tears and shadows that the film took very bad advantage of.

Despite this, we have to admire the extraordinary artistic quality of Marion Cotillard, who was truly able to embody Piaf. The actress is relatively unknown outside the French-speaking world and has made a solid but discreet career. Nevertheless, she was amazing in this film, and she deserved with all justice the Oscar for Best Actress that was given that year by the Academy. The film also features the discreet but effective participation of Gerard Depardieu, Emanuelle Seigner, Clotilde Courau and Pascal Greggory. Despite that, I didn't feel involved. There is something that completely fails in this film, which I think is Olivier Dahan's (director and screenwriter) inability to create an empathy between the main character and the audience. I think he leaned against the shadow of Piaf's institutional solidity and fell asleep, that is, he made the film for the French and for Piaf's fans, and he did not concern about other audiences for whom the singer means little, but who might want to see the film anyway.

Technically, it was a film that did what it needed to do, but without much shine. There is a lack of energy and charisma, which is reflected in a dull cinematography and an excessive duration of two and a half hours, in which the film drags on in an almost unjustifiable way. The sets are excellent, as are the costumes and makeup (the film also won the Oscar for Best Makeup, which means something) that, with their efforts, helped the actress Cotillard to look as much as possible with the real thing singer. The soundtrack, of course, is solidly based on several Piaf songs and accordion themes.… Expand

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