Am I Missing Something?

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

I imagine if you were or are a fan of Edith Piaf, this movie will fulfill a desire to watch what seemed like a narrow perspective on the life of the famous French singer. Personally, I found the film to be excruciatingly drawn out without much in the way of an uplifting message or something more positive to say about a woman who rose above her troubled origins. That's not to say that Marion Cotillard's performance wasn't good, quite contrary, it was simply amazing, and since I'm not that familiar with her body of work, there was no distracting from her celebrity. She quite literally became the character of Edith Piaf in a way that few actresses might be able to accomplish. Her portrayal of the older Piaf in her late forties was quite astonishing and you wouldn't recognize the person under the makeup. But the story itself seemed quite dismal to me, what with the alcohol and drugs contributing to a sadly shortened career. One would expect that a singer who's voice was the 'soul of Paris' would have done so much more to insure a personal legacy.

"La Vie en Rose" is the biography of the French singer Édith Piaf who was regarded as France's national diva, as well as being one of France's greatest international stars.In this movie we the outstanding interpretation of Marion Cotillard (Won the Academy Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role), who plays as Edith Piaf and I think that this interpretation of her was her best and I liked it very much. I also liked the interpretation of Gérard Depardieu who plays as Louis Leplée (he gave to Edith Piaf her nickname as La Môme Piaf = The Little Sparrow) a close friend of Edith Piaf who helped her at her start as singer.Finally I think that "La Vie en Rose" is a really good Biography movie that shows us from what difficulties Edith Piaf passed to become the singer we know today. With this movie you will understand how difficult was that and you will feel all her emotions and that was another one reason which I liked the interpretation of Marion Cotillard because she makes you feel all that emotions.

I have long heard of this film, since it had won the Oscar Best Actress prize for lead actress Marion Cotillard for her total embodiment of the central character, French singer Edith Piaf. Oddly though, I never really got to watch this movie until now. It was only because I had just seen an amazing stage production called "Piaf," a play written by Pam Gems in 1978. This play introduced me to Piaf as a most dramatic and tragic character. I felt compelled to finally watch this movie "La Vie en Rose" and compare notes.Thankfully for the play, I was able to get the flow of the whole story, despite the technique employed by the film director Olivier Dahan of telling her story non-linearly, in erratic flashbacks. Some of the flashbacks would inexplicably merge into main story which may confuse a lot of viewers who have no knowledge of Piaf's life story. If you knew how the story goes in the first place though, his story telling style choices may actually come across as artistic. Unlike the play, this movie tells a lot about Edith's sad and eventful childhood. This part of her life would include interesting tidbits about being in the circus, as well as going blind with her sight restored by what seemed to be a miracle by her patroness Therese of the Child Jesus. These details of course was beyond the scope of the play. The play though spent significant time to tell about Piaf's activities during World War II, as well as about her second and last husband, Theo Sarapo. The latter was mentioned in passing by Piaf on her deathbed. On the other hand, the film totally skipped these two important episodes of Piaf's checkered life.But both in the movie and play, the music of Piaf is front and center. In the film, while Marion Cotillard perfected the stance, facial expression and gestures of Piaf, she only lip-synched to the original recordings or recordings done by a sound-alike. The stage Piaf though had to sing LIVE with bravura with every performance. The final song "Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien" was a truly a spectacular showstopper in both film and play as sung in French. However the film thankfully had English subtitles to tell me what the song really meant, and I saw how much meaning the song had to Piaf's life as whole at that point.The eventful life of Madame Edith Piaf is truly a winning acting piece for any actress. With the film and the play, I witnessed both actresses transform into Piaf. Lucky for Cotillard that she just needed to do this once right to be printed on film, the actress in the play had the additional challenge and difficulty to do repeated performances of this very physically and vocally draining role. In any case, both this biopic and the play will have you interested to listen more to the music of Piaf. Fortunately for us in the age of Youtube, we can also check out video recordings of the real Piaf in action, and we will marvel more about how these talented actresses portrayed her so convincingly.

La Vie en Rose is a great movie that portrays the life of singer Edith Piaf through her childhood and through the tragedies she faced around her as she grew up. The movie really gives life to the character of Edith, and I think that is especially achieved through Marion Cotillard, the actress playing Edith Piaf in the film. This is the best role I've seen from her, and perhaps one of the best roles from other female actresses. Her emotional acting is able to lead the audience of the movie through the difficult times that Edith felt in her life.The makeup was incredibly well done, as Marion Cotillard was made to look almost exactly like the real Edith Piaf. The makeup also was very well transitioned from Edith's early childhood years to her teenage years, and to adulthood.I also enjoyed the music in this movie, and I like the idea of for example, when Edith was going through a difficult time or a tragedy, in the background would be a song of hers that relates to what she is experiencing at the moment.Although I have stated many good comments about this film, it is a little depressing, though that is expected if you know the life of Edith Piaf. Overall, however, it was a really well-made movie with excellent acting from Marion Cotillard, and a powerful drama that brings to life the voice and heart of French singer Edith Piaf.