La Vie En Rose

Edith Piaf had moments of striking darkness and light. The bio-pic La Vie en Rose captures the tortured soul of Piaf. It takes risks that don't always pay off, but you always appreciate the risk-taking. Piaf is defiant and strong-willed, even as her frail body is wracked with pain. From the opening scenes, the film is a long march to "Non, je ne regrette rien,"

No one takes greater risks than Marion Cotillard, who gives an Oscar worthy performance as Piaf. She creates a character at once unlikable, lovable and genius. Piaf lived a hard life from her first days to her last. It's a complex portrait made all the more compelling by its physicality (or at times, lack thereof). Piaf was small and frail for most of her life. By the time she died at 47, her body was twisted from arthritis, a car crash and addictions. Cotillard brings all of this together in a performance the is never less than compelling, but is often more. She is at once harsh and vulnerable, steadfast and broken.

The film also takes risks by placing key events in Piaf's life out of chronological order. The film is not a straight biography in that it attempts to make connections among various events in Piaf's life by connecting them in the film. In fact, one major event in her life is not even foreshadowed until her last night and the last moments of the film. Does this work? Largely, yes. Piaf's life story is largely a mystery, so it works to bring things together in mysterious ways.

As film biographies go, Piaf's is one that is compelling and not well known, particularly in the U.S. La Vie En Rose is a worthy entry transported by an extraordinary performance.