La Vie on Rose (粉紅色的一生)

I have heard I don't know how many wonderful songs from an excellent French lady singer Edith Piaf but I knew absolutely nothing about the tortuous path which eventually made her into the premiere diva of Paris, ringing out in her slightly trembling voice in song after song the very soul of Paris until I saw the film La Vie en Rose (2007) at the French film festival. Days after I saw the film, her songs still ring in my ears. It was unforgettable film. She was an unforgettable character

In this film we see how as a child she was abandoned by her mother, a street singer, how she was taken away from her by her father and deposited at her father's sister house of pleasure in Normandy, how she was cared for by one of the prostitutes with a heart of gold there, how she got blind for several months from an eye disease from which she miraculously recovered after her fervent prayers to St. Teresa and some more terrestrial nursing from a woman who took pity on her, how she was later forcibly taken away by her father, a returned soldier from WWII and a contortionist, first to help him at a circus and then in the streets after he lost his job because of a violent quarrel with his boss,and how she began her career there when forced by her father urging her to do something to keep the crowd's attention after he finished his bag of contortonist tricks and how in her confusion, she started to sing just any song she could remember and how she sang the La Marseillaise which to her own and to every one's surprise was much better than expected and how later when her father forced her to be a prostitute just to earn more money she refused and how to make a living she in her turn became a street singer until she attracted the attention of one Louis Gaisson (Gerard Depardieu), who picked her up from the streets, put her into his bar-nightclub where she became an instant hit, how she met there the head of the French national radio and how after Louis  died, she returned to her former life as a street singer or sang at little known bars until again, her talent was discovered by another impressario who took her to New York and had her professionally trained and how she bloomed, how she met the love of her life, a champion boxer from Morroco and eventually how she collapsed on the stage and retired to Grasse to finish off her life in all alone and in poor health.

The acting by Marion Cotillard as Edith Piaf was simply unbelievable: she completely captured her spontaneous nature, her indomitable spirit, her love of singing, how she spoke appallingly bad street French with her Pigallesque gutter manners and how later she articulated every one of her words with perfect accent, how she hid herself in her room and wouldn't come out just before her first big show, how she fell in love, and became completely besotted over her lover until he died in a tragic plane accident from which she never really recovered, having thereafter to take drugs to tide her over her sleepless nights and how despite her tremendous success, she never really changed, still retaining the the kind of quick tempered and spontaneous little girl mentality that she had and in fact how she truly was at heart. And how she sang her heart out, how she poured her soul into her song and how she never really felt alive until she is on stage and how she tottered and pottered about in her old age as a shriveled yet tough old lady. ! 

The cinematography was excellent, with sensitive use of light and shade as the film flits between her present state at her retirement home at Grasse and various important episodes of her colorful life but tragic life. So was the make-up  which won the film several awards. The music was simply impeccable. But what left the most indelible impression on my mind was Cottilard's acting. What an actress!  She fully deserves the best actress award she got at many of Europe's film festivals. I really don't mind seeing the film a second and a third time.