La Vie en Rose, written by Olivier Dahan and Isabelle Sobelman, directed by the former

La Vie en Rose, written by Olivier Dahan and Isabelle Sobelman, directed by the former

The 2007 biopic of the French singer Edith Piaf aka La Mome from the original title has been acclaimed as one of the best films of the year, Marion Cotillard winning The Academy Award, Golden Globe, BAFTA and other prizes for her Best Performance in a Leading Role.

Nevertheless, the under signed thought that there are plenty of moments where the artist misfired, the singer coming across as somehow “bête”, simple to the point of lacking intelligence and perhaps making one wonder what is it so significant in the life of this woman with a splendid voice that we have to watch the feature for two hours and twenty minutes…

For there are a multitude of people alas who have a terrible life, even in the present in places like Syria, Eritrea, North Korea, Venezuela and even the rich world, and very few of them see their experiences transported to the big screen – so what is so special about La Mome?

Edith Piaf has started her life in squalor and throughout the motion picture, there are flashbacks, with the celebrity thinking back at her childhood, confrontation with her drinking mother, the periods during which she went travelling with a circus and then performed with her adult companion in the streets, to gain their livelihood.

Despite the sympathy, compassion felt for the struggling child, then the poor teenager and even the young singer who gave performances in corners, for a few coins, the grown up artist has a behavior, manner and attitude that are if not despicable, at the very least arrogant, detestable.

Therefore, there are quite a few scenes where we can admire the complexity of the narrative, the fact that we do not have a boring main character, constructed on just one direction, the star is both fragile, hit by trauma, sick and very quickly aged, but she is also too haughty, self-absorbed from one stage on:

Edith Piaf does whatever she pleases…or words to that effect, coming from the mouth of a woman who was far from handsome, whose account on many aspects of her life we would just have to believe seem to make her unlikeable.

When she is only a child of about six, she suffers from an affliction, she has to keep her eyes covered for quite a long time and she is in danger of losing her sight, or at least that is what those around her believed.

The fact that she is practically abandoned by her mother, and then has to live in a brothel, with kind sex workers – prostitutes as they were then called – must have had a serious psychological impact, especially when coupled with her travelling with the circus, then living in destitution, practically on the streets.

Her first forced singing happened in a public space, as her adult guardian was showing his skill as a contortionist, gymnast to people gathered on the street, one woman asks what the girl can do and he feels that she needs to do something, anything so that they will receive some money.

The girl sings La Marseillaise at a tender age, then we see her with another woman, her best friend for a few tears, singing in Paris, near buildings, where Louis Leplee aka Gerard Depardieu in his glory days has an idea about her talent, gives her his card and invites the young woman to come to his club.

This is where her career is launched, after the inspired Louis Leplee thinks of the names that are used, offers  La Mome Piaf, then encourages, supports the young artist, up to the point where he is killed and the heroine is interrogated by the police, because she used to have friends from the criminal world.

Indeed, one of them is shown trying to force her to become a whore, when he was not happy with what she had brought from her singing, but the protagonist insists she never became a sex worker – although there is a suggestion that she did not select partners very well…not always.

Unfortunately, the vices that plague so many famous musicians and celebrities, alcohol and drugs would take their toll on Edith Piaf, with the caveat that in the case of La Mome it can surely be argued that her suffering has been immense and she needed soothing and refuge from pain.

When the French singer travels to the United States, there are many, actually most Americans reject her singing and manner, with few exceptions, one journalist in – was it the New York Times? – says that America does not deserve this special star.

The heroine meets Marcel Carne, a boxer who fights for the World Championship title, invites her to the restaurant where he is a regular customer, which offers some burgers that Edith Piaf does not like, albeit she is very much taken with the strong fighter, whose match she goes to watch.

He becomes World Champion, the two have a love affair, but he dies in a plane crash, making the already unstable, addicted woman even more absent, confused – she runs through the house at one point to get the Cartier watch that she had bought as a present for the boxer she thinks is in her bed, only to find that she has imagined it, the man is dead.

Edith Piaf says that one of her most –if not the most – famous songs describes her life perfectly:

Non, rien de rien, non, je ne regrette rien

Ni le bien qu'on m'a fait, ni le mal

Tout ça m'est bien égal

Non, rien de rien, non, je ne regrette rien

C'est payé, balayé, oublié, je me fous du passé

Avec mes souvenirs j'ai allumé le feu

Mes chagrins, mes plaisirs

Je n'ai plus besoin d'eux

Balayé les amours avec leurs trémolos

Balayé pour toujours

Je reparts à zéro