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Plot

Writer/director Olivier Dahan (Crimson Rivers II) helmed La Vie en Rose, the screen biopic of tragic French songstress Edith Piaf. Marion Cotillard portrays Piaf, the superstar once raised as a young girl by her grandmother in a Normandy bordello, then discovered on a French street corner -- as a complete unknown -- by cabaret proprietor Louis Leplée (Gérard Depardieu). The film segues breezily between various episodes from Piaf's life -- such as her lover, French boxer Marcel Cerdan's (Jean-Pierre Martins) championship bout in mid-'40s New York; her period in Hollywood during the '50s; Piaf's abandonment as a young girl by her contortionist father (and earlier by her mother, a street singer); her brushes with the law as an adult; and her 1951 car accident and subsequent morphine addiction that caused her to age well beyond her years and left her barely mobile; and, through it all, her ability (like Billie Holiday) to funnel personal tragedy and emotional struggles into her vocalizations -- dazzling audiences in the process.
MPAA Rating:
PG-13 for substance abuse, sexual content, brief nudity, language and thematic elements.
Genre(s):
Drama
Run Time:
140min.
Theatrical Release Date:
06/08/2007
DVD Release Date:
10/25/2007
Distributor(s):
Picturehouse
Director(s):
Olivier Dahan
Starring:
Marion Cotillard , Sylvie Testud , Pascal Greggory , Emmanuelle Seigner , Jean-Paul Rouve
Themes:
Drug Addiction,Fathers and Daughters,Tortured Genius,Rags To Riches,Musician's Life
Tone:
Wry,Biting,Lyrical,Gritty,Elegiac,Forceful
Keywords:
French [nationality],addiction,brothel,car-crash,father,relationship,singer
Country of Origin:
USA - Limited (06-08-2007)
Language:
French