The utter gut wrenching performance of a lifetime

Rating: 9/10 (30 December 2007)

Marion Cotillard gives a performance of raw power and that will drag genuine emotions from the viewer in "la môme", or "la vie en rose". Not tears of sympathy, or a sigh, but a real emotional response.
I guarantee you will not see a better single performance that will tear and kick the tears out of you like this for quite a while.
Despite my better judgment, (the direction is good - but lacks true vision for greatness), I found myself totally convinced by Marion Cotillard's performance. To describe it as simply accurate is to belittle her central force, she embodies the point of Piaf - the tiny, emaciated, nearly crippled waif who became the embodiment of Paris and one of the central cultural icons of France, more than Brassens, or Trenet, because she throws her heart , body, and voice into the part - and most of all into the pain.
Piaf's life is the embodiment of a life that persevered no matter the cost. Everyone should see this, if only afterward to understand that they have nothing to complain of, ever, compared to the life of Piaf -- go see, and go beyond melodrama, or pathos to another place -
Hugely recommended as one of the outstanding performances of its genre.