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 the 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.

Cotillard was chosen by director Olivier Dahan to portray the French singer Édith Piaf in the biopic La Vie en Rose before he had even met her, saying that he noticed a similarity between Piaf's and Cotillard's eyes.[5] Producer Alain Goldman accepted and defended the choice even though distributors TF1 reduced the money they gave to finance the film thinking Cotillard wasn't "bankable" enough an actress.[6]

Four songs were entirely performed by "Parigote" singer Jil Aigrot: "Mon Homme" (My Man), "Les Mômes de la Cloche" (The kids of the bell), "Mon Légionnaire" (My legionnaire), "Les Hiboux" (Owls) 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. Recordings of Piaf are also used.

The film premiered at the 57th Berlin International Film Festival.

• 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