La Vie en Rose

Non, Rien De Rien,
Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien
Ni Le Bien Qu`on M`a Fait,
Ni Le Mal
Tout Ca M`est Bien Egal
Non, Rien De Rien,
Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien
C`est Paye, Balaye, Oublie,
Je Me Fous Du Passe

Those are the words to the song, Non Je ne regrette rien, sung by Edith Piaf. It is also one of her most famous - others include La Vie en Rose, Milord, L'hymne a l'amour - songs performed by Edith just before her death. And, of course, if you've seen the movie, this is the last song performed by Paif.

This past weekend saw me watching most of the Oscar nominated Best Pictures movies from Michael Clayton to There Will Be Blood. But, the movie that I was really looking forward to seeing was La Vie en Rose. And it's not the movie itself that I wanted to see, but the acting performance of Marion Cotillard as Edith Piaf.

Why? I was listening to a podcast of my favorite radio talk show and one of the guests, though not a movie critic but have seen just about every movies every year - American and foreign - said that Cotillard gave the greatest single acting performance, male or female, he has ever seen. Yep, that was enough to persuade me.

And, oh, what a performance.

Good thing that she won an Oscar too because it would be sacrileged if she hadn't. And speaking of post Oscar, I was listening to a certain movie critic, Arch Campbell, rambling about how he was still trying to figure out why "a French film won Best Actress". Really, Arch can you just be a bit more americanphile? Because I don't think there are enough American haters out there in the world. IMHO, the award should be given to those who deserve it the most; what does it matter if the film is French, English or Mongolian. I don't see British critics calling for heads when she picked up the BAFTA. Geez...

But, let's get back to the movie


The movie is pretty difficult to follow through its non linear storytelling. I didn't know who Edith Piaf was (and let's face it, few people under the age of forty would know who she was)so it took me a while to actually follow the story. In sum: La Vie en Rose is a movie about the tragic, yet triump life of Edith Piaf.

She was abandoned by her mother when she was young. Brought up in a brothel, following her father in a circus and living on a street, supporting herself by singing. A locally famous cabaret owner spotted her talent and things grew from there (though not without problems). She came to New York to perform and at the zenith of her career, became the highest paid entertainer in America. All of these triumphs, of course, are entwined by series of unfortunate events, which I won't go into details.


But, La Vie en Rose is all about Cotillard's performance covering Piaf life span from 20 to 40s (though she looked like a 60 year old woman). You wouldn't think much of it until you see a picture of Cotillard. She's tall, beautiful and healthy looking whereas Edith Piaf was small, oddly looking and a fragile person. That's when it hit me how hard it must be to play her and convince the audience that they are she is Piaf. So, double kudos to the make up artist as well (and he did win an Oscar for it). My favorite scene is when she found out about the death of Marcel and she completely broke down. Heartwrenching. (Reality: Piaf did not even cancel her performance that night!).

Other than Cotillard's performance, the thing that I love most about this movie involves a scene where Raymond is teaching Piaf how to sing. Pronunciate...nobody can understand the song if you are mumbling the words. Seriously, somebody should tell most of the singers nowaday that NOBODY can understand a word they are singing. I mean, if all one has to do is mumble (and have no vocal range), then I can be a singer. Art? No, it's craptastic. And that is one thing La Vie en Rose is not.

Translation:
No, nothing of nothing
No! I don't feel sorry about anything
Not the good things people have done to me
Not the bad things, it's all the same to me.

No, nothing of nothing
No! I don't feel sorry about anything
It's paid for, removed, forgotten,
I'm happy of the past