A glimpse into the life of French singer Edith Piaf.

Rating: Null/10 (14 December 2007)

I can't write anything until I comment on how good 20-something actress Marion Cotillard is as Edith Piaf. To me her performance ranks up there with a select few in the 3000+ movies I have seen. Even if I had not enjoyed the story, watching this actress in the role she created would have been worth my time. I hope she is recognized come Academy Award time.
Piaf is a French word for the bird "sparrow" and that was how she was named when her talent was first recognized when she was a 20-year-old street singer. She had no idea how good she was, and probably all of her life just took her singing for granted, it was just a part of her.
The movie touches on her young life in the brothel, until rescued by her father and brought into the circus. But most of the movie is of her actual singing career, and ups and downs, her affair with real life prize fighter Marcel Cerdan who was killed in a plane crash on the way to visit her.
All in all a superb movie enjoyable by anyone who can appreciate a good film based on a real famous and tragic life. Piaf died at the young age of 47, although she looked close to 80 in the movie.
Feb 25 edit: I see that Marion Cotillard won the Oscar last night for Best Actress, which is very fitting!