a case of 'star over substance'

Rating: 6/10 (25 March 2008)

There isn't necessarily anything very horribly wrong with La Vie en Rose, but then again there's nothing very spectacular either. It's simply another entry in a long line of musician/star biography dramas where it's almost paint-by-numbers when it comes to the story: guy (or girl in this case) rises up from dank misery and, sometimes, poverty, bad parents, strange childhoods, etc, get past adolescent hardships and adversity, and become worldwide sensations. Then come drugs, bad relationships, more drugs or drink, the little up of fame crashing down into decay and, sometimes too, death. With the exception of a couple of twists here and there, the story presented by director Dahan of Edith Piaf, one of France's 20th century darlings, this is the formula for this film treatment as well. This one might have a few more diva touches than what we've seen lately in America with Cash and Ray Charles (i.e. some tantrums, drama backstage with drink and bad boyfriends, etc), but that's about it.
With the lack of any surprise in the narrative, and Dahan's direction being competent but not too daring (montages, color me shocked!), he relies on his star to do a lot of the heavy lifting. To his credit, he has a girl who's up to the task to take on such an embodiment of struggle and minor triumph as with Edith Piaf in Marion Cotillard. She embodies such a person as Piaf through the many stages of her life, through her younger years avoiding prostitution to sing in bars and clubs and building up to a chance meeting with a teacher who pushes her to stardom on to her later years where she struggles against health problems, drink, and her relatively young passing in the 60s. She's up to the task as someone who's bright and funny and also very melodramatic when it calls for it. In a film that almost isn't worth the effort, Cotillard is willing to go through the motions with the kind of mendacity I haven't seen since Whitaker in Bird.
So, do see it if you are a fan, as it features many of Piaf's quintessential songs (often sung by her, I couldn't always tell if she or Cotillard sang them, if it's the latter she's also excellent there), and for such a star turn as here. Aside from that, it's just same old story, with a couple of perks if you're a die-hard of the musical bio-pic.