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La Vie En Rose (2007) DVD Review
La Vie En Rose (2007) DVD Credits:
La Vie En Rose (2007) Directed by:
Oliver Dahan
La Vie En Rose (2007) Written by:
Oliver Dahan
La Vie En Rose (2007) Cast:
Marion Cotillard, Gerard Depardieu
La Vie En Rose (2007) Released by:
Not available at this time
Region:
1
La Vie En Rose (2007) DVD Release Date:
13th November 2007
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La Vie En Rose (2007) Synopsis:

Biopic of Edith Piaf

La Vie En Rose (2007) DVD Review:

As far as biopics are concerned, La Vie En Rose is a spectacular and elegant success in capturing the essence of the genre as well as Édith Piaf, the French singer whose story the film tells. Trying as hard as possible to escape the inevitable formula of a biopic, La Vie En Rose has a discombobulated way of jumping back and forth to various portions of the famed singer’s life, although this creative attempt at narrative often makes the experience jarring and more difficult to enter Piaf’s life. Instead the portrayal comes off as a distant homage to the singer rather than an intimate portrayal. Marion Cotillard’s performance is so engaging that the film begins to feel like many of the biopics of musicians to come out in the past few years. These films all have one thing in common, and that tends to be a fantastic performance which the entire film seems to rely far too heavily upon. The film becomes about the performance and all else fades into the background. Although this is not the case for the energetic La Vie En Rose, beyond the wonderful music it is the breathtaking photography which gives the film some credibility beyond the spectacular lead performance.

As important as La Vie En Rose wants to make the life of Édith Piaf seem, emphasizing the importance of her career in both France and worldwide, the film seems far more preoccupied with showing her difficult nature. As Ray preoccupied itself with drug abuse and womanizing this biopic shows much of the singers drinking and stubbornness. The singer nicknamed “The Little Sparrow” when discovered in 1935 by a nightclub owner, Louis Leplée (Gérard Depardieu), was growing up on the streets singing for money. Raised by prostitutes when her failed mother did not make enough money singing and her father abandoned her, Piaf is portrayed as having quite a rough exterior even into her final days. Unfortunately these final days are not nearly as glamorous and beautiful as the music she created. Piaf had a remarkable talent for singing, with lung powers far exceeding that of the petite woman she was, but her life was filled with turmoil after she begins an affair with a married middleweight boxing champion.

This relationship may be an attempt to show the softer side of the stubborn singer who would eventually develop a morphine addiction in order to continue performing indulgently, but it is difficult to sympathize when she loses her love considering he is someone else’s husband and has a family of his own. I can’t help but think of his wife, a woman who certainly lost her love as well, but doesn’t have the luxury of a film showing this loss. This is somehow the justified logic of the film, almost content to portray Piaf as flawed in many, many ways, as long as Cotillard’s performance shines and the music is still beautiful. La Vie En Rose is certainly a passionate attempt to bring the life of a performer to screen, and this effort is not lost, although the focus on the human melodrama is what makes the film difficult to love as much as appreciate. Just once I would love to see a performer focused on without all of their faults making way to screen just for an award winning performance.

Being that La Vie En Rose is the fourth highest grossing French film to be released in the United States, it makes sense that the DVD would be released with the extended version of the film. At 141 minutes this version can feel a little indulgent at times, often only kept completely engaging because of the music and sweeping photography. The only special feature on the DVD is an obvious featurette about Cotillard’s performance and the transformation that took place each time she became the singer on set. There are several different points of her life with specific demands, depending on her age and what drug she was relying on at the time.

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La Vie En Rose (2007) DVD review written by: Ryan Izay

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