Let me preface my review by saying that before seeing this movie (aka: La Môme), I knew absolutely nothing about Edith Piaf or her music. I hadn't seen a single PBS biography of her, hadn't consciously listened to her songs/albums, hadn't read anything in print or on the net -- I was a complete Piaf-virgin.

The movie itself is big time melodrama, which I'm a sucker for already -- and here they go all out, recreating various historical settings in their full cinematographic retro glory. Then, Marion Cotillard, the actress who plays Edith Piaf goes right over the top to fashion a performance which unexpectedly seems a more realistic portrayal of the extreme life of her subject. She was outstanding.

This is a life story seemingly made for the big screen, and I'm glad I had the opportunity to see it in the theatre,

5 out of 5.

Ugh, I'm so disappointed by this. I was really interested in see this but it ended up being (after the first hour, anyway) uninteresting and painfully boring. It does make up for it in the last five minutes though, it ends on a wonderful high note and it's a beautiful scenes. Basically, it's a blown up Lifetime movies of the week. Still, if you're a fan of the artist at hand, I say check it out.

5/10 ( C )

Oddly like another film I saw this week, I found myself never really hating this in any way during my viewing and even being awe-struck by a couple aspects (Cotillard blows pretty much every other actress this year away), but by the time it was over I was kinda "eh" about it. It's not even really THAT standard of a biopic, with its very off-kilter pacing seemingly meant to capture the feel of a person reflecting over multiple aspects of their lives, but there was still something greatly lacking in the screenplay. The direction was fine though, as SOMEONE outside of Cotillard had to extract that much brilliance (And the tracking shot near the end is an excellent one), but in the end I can only appreciate it more than love it. Still a fine film, but far from a great one.

**.5

Marion is amazing (make-up and all). Just wow.

The movie? Shitfest (almost).

C+

Marion Cotillard was amazing, but she was the only great thing about this movie.

B

Ugh. I hated this movie.

Some interesting even great moments but they are too few. Marion Cotillard and the music, however, are great. And, really, I don't think it's much worse than most biopic films that have come out within the past few years...

C+

It's pretty run-of-the-mill biopic stuff, with the exception of a few brilliant sequences (for example, when Edith receives word of the plane crash), some interesting, Scorsese-esque camera work, and one of the best performances of the year by Cotillard (up there with Cristie and Day-Lewis)

I'll agree with the general consensus here. This movie is worth seeing for Marion Cotillard. She is fantastic in the role, delivering what is easily one of the year's best female performances. Some sequences just blew me away, namely the incredibly powerful scene after the plane crash. She really becomes the character and undergoes a major transformation reminiscent of Felicity Huffman in Transamerica or Charlize Theron in Monster. Aside from her performance, the film is merely average. None of the other performances really stand out, the plot is cliched and filled with typical "biopic" subplots, and the writing/direction is nothing special either. I think what hindered my enjoyment of this film a lot is that I wasn't a fan of the way it was presented. I understand why it was done, but the constant shifts back and forth in time proved to be distracting in the long run. Overall though, Collitard makes it worth a rental. B-

B-


Without a doubt, Marion Cotillard delivered one of the year's best if not THE best female performance (it's between her and Amy Adams), but she's the only saving grace of this otherwise run-off-the-mill biopic. Watching the movie all I could think was "Oh yeah, suffering, more suffering, moire bad things happening and now a little more suffering...". It's really a fairly bleak film with only very few bright spots.

On the one hand, it is a generic biopic, but on the other hand, it is not when you think of the way the film is told. It's a bit off-kilter, focusing only one some specific parts of Piaf's life and jumping in time throughout the whole film which I found to be fairly annoying. But despite all its attempts to be a "different" kind of a biopic, it all still felt like the same to me. The costumes are good, the camera work is solid and the make-up is simply outstanding. Those Oscar noms that it gathered were all completely well-deserved, especially Cotillard's, but the film never reaches a big emotional impact or actually any kind of an impact on the viewer.

Marion's performance WAS the movie. She became Edith Piaf. Not sure what you guys were expecting here in terms of plot. If someone's life sucks, of course you're not going to like the storylines. Having said that, it was a little long. I'm also not a fan of the back and forth in timeline.

If Marion doesn't win though, it will be a travesty.

B

Yeah...I thought Cotillard was eons better than Christie and that's not to say that Christie was bad.

Marion Cotillard was AMAZING. I couldn't believe my eyes. Her performance was flawless. I haven't seen the other four ladies so far but it's hard to imagine for me that they even come close to Cotillard. I can't praise her enough. That was easily one of the best female performances I've ever seen. With someone else the movie probably would have bored me to death but thanks to Cotillard it was a joy to watch. B+

I thought it was both an absolutely mesmerizing performance and a really well-paced, well-constructed biopic. The significance of Piaf as an icon is lost a bit at times, but overall, I was moved.

Cotillard could take home that Oscar on Sunday and I'd be just fine.

B+

Congrats Marion!

I am sooo happy she won.

Cotillard and Amy Adams delivered the two best female performances of 2007 (note: I have yet to see Linney and Page in their films). So glad she won!

7/10 -> B-

Marion stole the show. And that's a good thing cause if she didn't the movie wouldn't be any good.

la vie en rose

grade - B for the film

grade - A for Marion Cotillard's acting.