La Vie en Rose (film)

The film is structured as a largely non-linear series of key events from the life of Édith Piaf. [note 3] The film begins with elements from her childhood, and at the end with the events prior to and surrounding her death, poignantly juxtaposed by a performance of her song, "Non, je ne regrette rien" (No, I do not Regret Anything).

Beginning in 1918, young Édith suffers a chaotic childhood and is eventually sent to live with her paternal-grandmother, who runs a brothel in Normandy. Édith witnesses the brutal business of prostitution. When she suffers an episode of keratitis-induced blindness, a kind sex worker named Titine tenderly cares for Édith.

Édith's World War I veteran father collects her to accompany him while he works as a circus acrobat. One night, Édith sees a vision of St Thérèse in a fire eater's flames. St Thérèse says she will always be with Édith—a belief that she carries for the rest of her life. When Édith is nine years old, her father leaves the circus and performs on the streets of Paris. During a lackluster performance, a passerby asks if Édith is part of the show. She spontaneously sings "La Marseillaise" with raw emotion, mesmerizing the street crowd.

Years later, nightclub owner Louis Leplée hires Édith to sing at his club and gives her the stage surname of Piaf, a colloquialism for sparrow that is inspired by her diminutive height of only 1.47m (4 ft 8in). However, Leplée is soon shot dead and the police suspect it's due to Édith's connections to the mafia. When she next attempts a show at a cabaret, she is jeered off the stage by a hostile crowd. Things go from bad to worse when her best friend, Mômone, is forcibly taken to a convent. Desperate, Édith turns to Raymond Asso, a songwriter and accompanist. Through harsh means, he enlivens her stage presence with hand gestures, better enunciation, and other lessons.

Édith's career progresses and she achieves fame. While performing in New York City, Édith meets Marcel Cerdan, a fellow French national and a middleweight boxer competing for the World Champion title. Despite him being married, Édith believes she's falling in love with Marcel. An affair ensues and, while it's supposedly a secret, "La Vie En Rose" is played for Marcel wherever he goes. Édith persuades Marcel to fly from Paris to join her in New York, and he wakes her up in her bedroom with a kiss. She goes to get coffee and is informed by her entourage that Marcel was killed when his plane crashed. Édith hysterically searches for his ghost.

The narrative bookends scenes from Édith's middle life with repeated vignettes. One set of memories shows Édith with short curly hair, singing on stage and collapsing. She develops arthritis, as well as a severe morphine addiction. Her husband, Jacques Pills, persuades her to enter drug rehabilitation, and she travels to California with him. A now-sober but manic Édith drives around in a convertible while joking and teasing her compatriots. She drives into a Joshua tree, but the hilarity continues as Édith gets out and pretends to hitchhike.

Years later, an aged Édith is now frail and hunched. She squabbles with her entourage about whether or not she will be able to perform at the Olympia. Charles Dumont and Michel Vaucaire offer her the composition, "Non, je ne regrette rien,” which she loves and announces that she will perform it.

Prior to what turns out to be her last performance, Édith asks for the cross necklace that she always wears and her staff rush away to get it. She sits in quiet solitude and experiences memories of her past. After Édith puts on the retrieved cross and shuffles out onto the stage, more flashbacks are shown as she sings. Édith relives a sunny day on a beach while knitting. She answers an interviewer’s questions, during which she repeatedly encourages others to "Love."

Édith's hard living and cancer has caused her to waste away at the age of 47. As she is tucked into bed, a subtitle reveals this is her last day alive. She is afraid and experiences a disjointed series of memories of small, yet defining moments—her mother commenting on her "wild eyes", her father giving her a doll, and thoughts of her own dead child, Marcelle. In a flashback, Édith performs "Non, je ne regrette rien" at the Olympia.

Director Olivier Dahan had the idea for the film on 22 January 2004, when he was in a bookstore and had just found a book of photographs of French singer Édith Piaf and began to look at them.[7] "I didn't know about her very early years and (there was) a photo that really made this first impression for me. It was a photo of her in a street when she was something like 17 years old and she really looked 'punk' (in terms of her) clothes and everything (and her) attitude. This photo was so far from the iconic image that I had (of Piaf when she was older). I just started to imagine something very quickly — what was in between that very early photo and the iconic image of her in the black dress and everything. That's the first impression (I had)", Dahan said.[7]

Marion Cotillard was chosen by Dahan to portray Édith Piaf in La Vie en Rose before he had even met her, saying that he noticed a similarity between Piaf's and Cotillard's eyes.[8] Producer Alain Goldman and casting director Olivier Carbone accepted and defended the choice,[9][10] even though distributor TF1 reduced the money they gave to finance the film thinking Cotillard was not "bankable" enough an actress.[9] The producers originally wanted Audrey Tautou for the role,[9][11] and reduced $5 million of the budget after Cotillard was cast.[12] Tautou's agent, Laurent Grégoire, said he had set up a meeting between Tautou and the film's producers, but when Tautou was informed of the film's premise, she responded: "Who is going to be interested in a film about Édith Piaf?", and the producers lost interest in casting her, so he suggested his other client, Marion Cotillard, for the role.[11]

Filming took place in four months.[7]

Three songs were entirely performed by singer Jil Aigrot: "Mon Homme" (My Man),[13] "Les Mômes de la Cloche" (The kids of the bell),[13] and "Les Hiboux" (Owls),[13] as well as the third verse and chorus of "L'Accordéoniste" (The accordionist) and the first chorus of "Padam, padam...". Only parts of these last two songs were sung because they were sung while Piaf/Cotillard was fatigued and collapsed on stage. Apart from that, "La Marseillaise" is performed by child singer Cassandre Berger (lip-synched by Pauline Burlet, who plays the young Édith in the film), and Mistinguett's "Mon Homme" (My Man) and "Il m'a vue nue" (He saw me naked) (sung in part by Emmanuelle Seigner) also appear. Cotillard performed the song "Frou-Frou" in the film.[14] Recordings of Piaf were also used in the film.[15]

Aigrot was chosen to perform the songs in the film after she attended a book signing at a library by Piaf's longtime secretary and confidante, Ginou Richer, at the same time that she was performing a concert entirely dedicated to Piaf.[15] Richer asked Aigrot to sing some of Piaf's songs on the spot and was impressed by it, saying that she had never heard someone sound so much like Piaf.[15] Richer then called Dahan and recommended Aigrot for La Vie en Rose.[15]

La Vie en Rose was the opening film of the 57th Berlin International Film Festival, where it made its world premiere in the main competition on 8 February 2007.[16] Cotillard's performance received an ovation from journalists at the festival's press conference,[16] and a 15-minute standing ovation at the end of its screening.[17] Hollywood talent agent Hylda Queally signed Cotillard shortly after the premiere at the festival.[18]

The film was released theatrically in France by TFM Distribution on 13 February 2007,[2] in Czech Republic by Bioscop on 14 June 2007,[3] and in the United Kingdom by Icon Film Distribution on 22 June 2007.[3]

New Line Cinema/HBO joint venture Picturehouse acquired US distribution rights to the film after Picturehouse president, Bob Berney, and the company's head of acquisitions, Sara Rose, watched a 10-minute footage of it at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival,[19][20] and later released the film in US theaters on 8 June 2007.[7]

The album with the soundtrack was released on 5 February 2007.[13]

• Official website
• La Vie en Rose at IMDb
• La Vie en Rose at Box Office Mojo
• La Vie en Rose at Rotten Tomatoes
• La Vie en Rose at Metacritic