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Laramie Movie Scope:
La Vie En Rose (La Môme)

A fractured story of Edith Piaf

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by Robert Roten, Film Critic
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November 30, 2007 -- “La Vie En Rose” (La Môme) is the disjointed movie version of the life of Edith Piaf (born Édith Giovanna Gassion, her stage name means “Little Sparrow”) one of the most beloved singers in the history of France. She is probably not beloved because of her connections with organized crime, her drug addiction, her heavy drinking, her self-indulgent tantrums, or her affair with a married man, but because of her distinctive, expressive, emotion-filled voice. Like Edith herself, this movie is a mixed bag, snippets of her life in no particular order, crowned by one fantastic performance by Marion Cotillard (“Big Fish”).

Even the first scene of the movie of Piaf on stage is a hodge podge of flashbacks and flashforwards. Before Piaf collapses on stage, we see the ambulance arriving before it is called. Is this really necessary? It isn't all that hard to follow, but it is annoying. Piaf is seen as a child, raised in her grandmother's brothel and in a traveling circus with her father, a contortionist. We also see Edith as a street singer, hustling with her half sister, Mômone (played by Sylvie Testud). They sing, drink, and pay protection money to a local pimp. Eventually a prominent nightclub owner, Louis Leplée (played by Gérard Depardieu of “Last Holiday”) spots her singing on the street and hires her to perform at his club. She becomes an instant sensation, but one man, Raymond Asso (Marc Barbé) thinks she can be even better with some polish, better clothes, elocution and performance lessons.

With Asso's training, Edith becomes an even bigger star than she was before. She was out of favor with the public for a time because mobsters with connections to Piaf murdered Leplée, but that was forgotten after a time. After her married lover, world champion boxer Marcel Cerdan dies in a plane crash, she was very depressed and got hooked on drugs. Her health had never been good, but her drug habit made it worse. Her body began to break down. She collapsed during several performances. Insurance companies no longer wanted to insure her because she was becoming a bad risk. Singing was such a big part of her life, however, she couldn't live without it. Eventually, she died at the age of 47 in 1963, but she was much older and more frail than her years. If she had taken care of herself, she might well have lived a lot longer.

The name of this film is taken from Edith's most famous song. Curiously, it is almost thrown away in the film as an abbreviated New York nightclub performance, and it is performed in English, not French. There is a good, but also abbreviated performance, of another one of her famous songs, “Non, je ne regrette rien” (this time in French) at the end of the film. Other Piaf songs form the bulk of the movie's soundtrack, often played in the background while music video-like segments appear on screen. You may think you've never heard Edith Piaf sing, but you probably have. The two songs above are standards and they can be heard on a lot of movie soundtracks. Marion Cotillard's performance in this movie is as big as Piaf's legend. She buries herself in the role. Her lip-synching to Piaf's singing is also very good. It is an award-winning performance.

While Piaf's life was unusual, it was also a bit of a cliché. An artist with an unhappy childhood is a pretty common thing, maybe even a prerequisite. Ditto for the drugs and alcohol, ditto for the affairs and the prima donna behavior. Take out Piaf's name and substitute Marilyn Monroe or Judy Garland or Jim Morrison or John Belushi or any other shooting star artist who lived hard and died young and its pretty much the same story. Piaf crashed through life in a dysfunctional state, leaving a lot of damage in her wake. She's not a role model. Hers is a cautionary tale. The really extraordinary stories are the great artists who managed to live relatively long lives with stable long-term personal relationships. This film is about a more common type of self-destructive artist. It rates a C.

Click here for links to places to buy or rent this movie in video and/or DVD format, or to buy the soundtrack, posters, books, even used videos, games, electronics and lots of other stuff. I suggest you shop at least two of these places before buying anything. Prices seem to vary continuously. For more information on this film, click on this link to The Internet Movie Database. Type in the name of the movie in the search box and press enter. You will be able to find background information on the film, the actors, and links to much more information.

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Copyright © 2007 Robert Roten. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.
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Robert Roten can be reached via e-mail at my last name at lariat dot org. [Mailer button: image of letter and envelope]

(If you e-mail me with a question about this or any other movie or review, please mention the name of the movie you are asking the question about, otherwise I may have no way of knowing which film you are referring to)