Chanteuse extraordinaire!

Rating: 8/10 (8 October 2007)

There will never be another Edith Piaf in France.She epitomizes the country.She was the only artist whose songs reflected her tragical fate.With few exceptions,all these songs are desperate songs ,from the wagnerian "Hymne à l'Amour" which Marguerite Monnot composed after Cerdan's death -although some writers claimed it had been composed before- to "Non,je ne Regrette Rien" which the singer recorded at a time when she was dying.Edith Piaf was the only popular artist who was embraced by intellectuals:Cocteau wrote a play for her and he died a few hours after her.Colette and Jean Anouilh were among her admirers.She had even fans in the world of rock/pop: Patti Smith ,Jeff Buckley (who covered "j'n'en connais pas la fin" ,an obscure number from the thirties),Willy /Mink de Ville,Marianne Faithful (who made an exciting version of "Les Prisons du Roy").Astrid the Beatles' German friend used to listen to her records too (see "Backbeat")
What am I driving at?Simply,this is a difficult,nay almost impossible subject.Guy Casaril's attempt ("Piaf" 1973 from Simone "Momone" Berteau) was dismal and besides ,it stopped with Leplée's death.Even worse was Lelouch's "Edith and Marcel" where Edith's voice was dubbed !!! (by a pop singer !).
Olivier Dahan's did not probably make the definitive Piaf biopic -as users have already pointed out,it would take a miniseries:the half-sister's book ,a 700+ pages biography is impossible to transfer to the screen-but it's easily the best to date.Marion Cotillard easily outdistances her rivals (Brigitte Ariel and Evelyne Bouix)in a Cesar -calibre performance.If she does not get the award,it will be as unfair as Ellen Burnstyn losing her AA to Julia Roberts.The problem for Marion Cotillard will be to find a follow up to the French runaway blockbuster of the year...
Olivier Dahan,flouting chronology ,chose key moments in Piaf's eventful life.One can regret that the songs are cut, particularly "Milord" (which Cher covered in America) and "Hymne à L'Amour" .Minor quibbles:the actor playing Cerdan is too refined,too "playboy" to portray Cerdan successfully,a great boxer but an uneducated not-so-handsome man whose favourite reading was the Katzenjammers ("Pim Pam Poum" in French) and whom Piaf herself tried to cultivate his mind (she made him read ,reportedly Mary Webb's "Sarn" );and Theo Sarapo's absence:he was her last love ,and a true love dedicated to her,he sweetened her awful last moments ,together they sang a duet which was a hit "A Quoi ça Sert l'Amour?'Theo Sarapo (Sarapo= I love you in Greek) deserved a niche in Piaf's saga.Too bad.
On the other hand,Piaf's faith in Sainte Thérèse de Lisieux remained intact (there is a pilgrimage in the movie) till her last breath.Although her funeral stopped the traffic in Paris ,she was refused a Christian ceremony,the church having declared that she lived in sin.Marlene Dietrich who was here (she briefly appears in the movie,played by Caroline Sihol;remember the German actress sang "La Vie En Rose" in Hitchcock's "stage fright" )cried out:"How much did they love her!".
Olivier Dahan made the best of the huge material which he had at his disposal.Some will complain cause Yves Montand and Charles Aznavour do not appear.But the same goes for Georges Moustaki,Mella (from "les Compagnons de la Chanson", Felix Marten;even Henri Vidal was discovered by Piaf...And anyway as the chanteuse wrote:
Dans le Ciel Plus de Problème, Dieu Réunit Ceux Qui s'Aiment.