Genre: Foreign Films
Starring: Marion Cotillard, Gerard Depardieu, Sylvie Testud, Pascal Greggory, Emmanuelle Seigner
Unfortunately, Olivier Dahan's "emotional journey" through this triumphant but tragic existence leaves us none the wiser about many of the details we'd like to know, or knowing, would like to see on the screen.
The details of the composition, the fluidity of the camera's movement and the magical elision between personal grief and "performed" grief are so confidently organised that one detects the shadow of a much subtler film. I wish that we could have seen it.
The film gets three stars because it’s such an impressive production – and of course the soundtrack kicks – but it’ll still probably leave you feeling strangely cold.
Marion Cotillard’s majestic, uncannily accurate portrayal is the main reason to see a film that makes heavy going of an exceptional life. For all Dahan’s lofty ambitions, you leave wishing he’d chosen a more straightforward way to retell Piaf’s story.
Marion Cotillard gives her body and soul in the starring role of a striking, grief-ridden biopic of Édith Piaf.
Top Critic I have to say I regret a few things after watching this formless and weirdly selective bio-pic of Edith Piaf.
Top Critic Olivier Dahan presents it as a glorious musical soap, and Marion Cotillard’s rag-doll charisma is the beauty of the film
Top Critic Yes, she sings ‘Je ne regrette rien’, and, yes, we cry. Yet the tears are for the song and the memory of a remarkable artist. They’re very little to do with this strenuously crafted yet ultimately bungled 140 minutes of celluloid.
Top Critic A far-from-rosy life story makes this lengthy biopic entertaining, but despite a strong lead performance it fails to get under Piaf’s skin.
Top Critic Superbly directed, thoroughly engaging and emotionally moving biopic with a sensational, Oscar-worthy performance from Marion Cotillard.
Fractured portrait of the singer is centred by some glorious samples of her music and a sterling central performance from Marion Cotillard.
Top Critic Marion Cotillard's staggering performance is the main event in this Edith Piaf biopic.
Here is what made the woman tick, if you need facts, find them in a book, if you want to understand her soul, see this film
Acaba funcionando mais como atestado do talento de sua protagonista, Marion Cotillard, do que como um tributo digno da magnífica cantora que esta interpreta.
This isn't the first time Piaf's life has been brought to the screen and it probably won't be the last, but Cotillard makes this particular version stand apart.
Marion Cotillard is the only reason to sit through La Vie En Rose, a biopic that compounds its basic tediousness by fracturing its narrative in a vain effort to mask a stale rise-and-fall arc.
Edith Piaf has plenty of tragedy in her life, so the movie is dark and moody, but it's compelling and Marion Cotillard's performance is impossible to forget.
It's a mixed bag, snippets of Piaf's life in no particular order, crowned by one fantastic performance by Cotillard.
Dahan's film is less an ode or a valentine, more of a spectacle of pity, mainly worth watching for Cotillard.
IGN RSS Feeds
