Post by Return of the Thin Olive Duke on Apr 12, 2016 20:24:22 GMT -5
La Vie en Rose
Dir. Olivier Dahan
Premiered June 6, 2007
I was starting to wonder if I’d become numb to some of these movies. La Vie en Rose was the third French prestige film I’d seen in a week, and at first glance it seemed disappointingly similar to every other musician biopic from the 2000s. But with time, it got to me.
La Vie en Rose tells the life story of Édith Piaf (Marion Cotillard, in a star-making role), a woman of extremely humble origins who used her vocal talents to escape poverty, becoming the defining voice of mid-20th century Paris. However, neither her talents nor her success could not save her from continuing to a very tragic life: abandoned by her mother, raised for a time in a brothel and for a time on the streets with her father, being abused and manipulated by the seedy underbelly of Parisian entertainment, falling for a married man only for him to die in a plane crash, and a lifetime of drug and alcohol abuse leading her to age far beyond her years and die at the premature age of 47.
I won’t mince words; at 141 minutes, La Vie en Rose is far longer than it needs to be. The cinematography is dark, claustrophobic, and overuses the handheld camera, while the editing sometimes resembles a low-budget documentary. No effort is made to conceal the digital nature of the production, which is only accentuated by the period setting.
However, the saving grace of the film is Cotillard as Piaf. It is a rare movie released in June that wins its star an Oscar, BAFTA, and Golden Globe, but here it’s understandable and inarguably deserved. Her performance is seamless and continually draws the viewer in. It helped at the time that Cotillard was relatively unknown, but even now I don’t see her, I only see Édith Piaf. And ultimately, that’s what La Vie en Rose is all about.
Sign this was made in 2007
The aforementioned issues with cinematography and editing
Also in Theaters
Next Time: Nancy Drew
Dir. Olivier Dahan
Premiered June 6, 2007
I was starting to wonder if I’d become numb to some of these movies. La Vie en Rose was the third French prestige film I’d seen in a week, and at first glance it seemed disappointingly similar to every other musician biopic from the 2000s. But with time, it got to me.
La Vie en Rose tells the life story of Édith Piaf (Marion Cotillard, in a star-making role), a woman of extremely humble origins who used her vocal talents to escape poverty, becoming the defining voice of mid-20th century Paris. However, neither her talents nor her success could not save her from continuing to a very tragic life: abandoned by her mother, raised for a time in a brothel and for a time on the streets with her father, being abused and manipulated by the seedy underbelly of Parisian entertainment, falling for a married man only for him to die in a plane crash, and a lifetime of drug and alcohol abuse leading her to age far beyond her years and die at the premature age of 47.
I won’t mince words; at 141 minutes, La Vie en Rose is far longer than it needs to be. The cinematography is dark, claustrophobic, and overuses the handheld camera, while the editing sometimes resembles a low-budget documentary. No effort is made to conceal the digital nature of the production, which is only accentuated by the period setting.
However, the saving grace of the film is Cotillard as Piaf. It is a rare movie released in June that wins its star an Oscar, BAFTA, and Golden Globe, but here it’s understandable and inarguably deserved. Her performance is seamless and continually draws the viewer in. It helped at the time that Cotillard was relatively unknown, but even now I don’t see her, I only see Édith Piaf. And ultimately, that’s what La Vie en Rose is all about.
Sign this was made in 2007
The aforementioned issues with cinematography and editing
Also in Theaters
- With Hostel: Part II, Eli Roth tried and failed to make an annual horror franchise to compete with Saw.
- Steven Soderbergh drew his star-studded heist trilogy to a close with Ocean’s Thirteen.
- Eventual Frozen director Chris Buck made his contribution to the penguin movie craze with Surf’s Up, this time as a parody of sports documentaries.
Next Time: Nancy Drew