Capo
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Post by Capo on Apr 25, 2008 23:59:21 GMT
La vie en rose Olivier Dahan 2007 | France / UK / Czech Republic
The life and death of Edith Piaf.
A standard biopic given what is becoming the increasingly standardised treatment of a retrospective memoir-narrative, propelled to excellence by Oscar-winner (and newcomer) Marion Cotillard, whose nuanced performance ranges from Piaf's young adulthood (as a girl who must grow up quick if she is to be a success) and an ailing elder (whose youthful stubbornness far outweighs her acceptance of oncoming death). An early fantastical scene, in which Piaf imagines a dead relative talking to her through fire, resembles Simba's apparition of Mufasa in The Lion King, and as such might repel the sceptics who want a sugar-free treatment; but you warm to it as it goes on, as the cutting back and forth between different stages of Piaf's life becomes more compelling, with momentum increasing till the final scenes (the revelation in which seems out of the blue, though no doubt true to life). There's an incredible and heartrending moment two thirds in: a one-take scene in which the camera follows Piaf from room to room in search of the husband she moments ago imagined to be there; it's the best scene in the film, and Cotillard owns it completely.
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