You Must See Cotillard's Performance as Edith Piaf

Rating: 8/10 (25 July 2008)

Marion Cotillard's performance as Edith Piaf in "La Vie en Rose" is one of the most amazing, if not the most amazing, screen performance I have ever seen. Cotillard's Piaf is up there with such unforgettable screen icons as Peter O'Toole as Lawrence of Arabia, Clark Gable as Rhett Butler, and Judy Garland as Dorothy in "The Wizard of Oz." Cotillard's job was much tougher, though. Other than the portions of the film devoted to Piaf's childhood, Cotillard appears in virtually every scene. She, with complete conviction, portrays a woman aged from her teens to her prematurely ravaged fifties. Piaf's life was very eventful, and Cotillard throws herself into conveying grief, joy, exuberance, intelligence, craftiness, and haughtiness with complete gusto. Not only did Cotillard deserve her Academy Award, she deserves an Olympic medal for her epic performance in this film.
It is to this film's great credit that Cotillard, and the film, make no effort to turn Piaf into a likable character. Piaf is difficult, and her many flaws are not glossed over. Even so, Cotillard / Piaf is unfailingly fascinating. You can't take your eyes off her.
The film is beautiful. Its production values are very high. Great effort was taken to transport the viewer to each decade depicted, from the 1910s to the 1960s. Chronological time is not followed. The film intercuts scenes from Piaf's childhood with her adulthood. If the director was attempting to make an artistic point by not using a conventional chronology, that artistic point went over my head. Though I did not like this style of presenting the story, the film still worked for me, because of its high production values, the inherent fascination of Piaf's eventful life, and Cotillard's not-to-be-missed performance.