This movie is worth seeing for the leading actress

Rating: Null/10 (25 June 2007)

Marion Cottillard as the "The Little Sparrow" (La Mome) is the main reason to see this film about the short and tempestuous life of Edith Piaf.
The movie is not as dramatic as Piaf's life. Born in December 19, 1915, She sang in the streets of Belleville district of Paris, following the footsteps of her mother. She married at 17 and had a daughter, who succumbed to meningitis two years later. Accounts portrayed her as a dutiful mother despite her trying to build a singing career on the streets. Soon Louis Leple'e discovered her strong voice as she sang on the street in the Pigalle district and booked her in an elegant cabaret on the Champs Elysee Boulevard, La Gerny. He gave her the nickname of La Mome. Then Leple'e was murdered.
A new agent, Raymond Asso, and other husbands and lovers followed. She attracted talented singers, actors and songwriters. She was a devoted friend who put her own career on hold to mentor young singers like Yves Montand, her lover, and Charles Azvanour. Marlene Dietrich was a close friend. Piaf called world boxing champion Marcel Cerdant the love of her life, although they could not marry because he had a wife and three children. He perished in a plane crash in October, 1949. She investigated spiritualism and mediums to communicate with him.
Despite her addiction to morphine for pain and alcohol, liver disease, and severe arthritis compounded by two car crashes, Piaf returned to the stage in 1955 at the Olympia in Paris and Carnegie Hall in New York, where she was the first variety singer to appear at the classic-music venue.
It is not the script that is melodramatic, but Piaf's life. Nonetheless she remained positive with her lifelong love and generosity for people, her religious faith, and her devotion to music. She passed at 47, leaving a very worn body.
Cotilliard portrays a shy, gamine singer to a severely debilitated woman who can barely walk, shaving her hairline and her eyebrows. Her lip-synching is very realistic. She dominated the movie. The story line zig zags with way too many flashbacks. Fortunately dates in supra titles help.