A fine film, but keep your head

Rating: 6/10 (18 June 2007)

For me the song La Vie En Rose was only known through the performance of Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong, though I did see the trailer for this film and was quite intrigued enough to view it.
It is a powerful film, though at times I grew tired of the timeshifting, sometimes without warning (only deducing which period it is by the colour of the character.) Astoundingly missing is the period of WWII, where Edith assisted the french resistance. There is simply a jump from 1940 to 1947 with no explanation.
Cotillard gives a very strong and sympathetic performance which, as a prior commenter suggested, rivals all performances in other bio-pics. Though the characters around her are rather confusing. Just who is her husband anyway? If you knew her life story you would be wondering if the script became too complicated and key telling footage was left on the cutting room floor.
An interesting film for one new to Edith Piaf.