Oscar Week: Marion Cotillard

When I was about 17 years old I literally dreamed about making a movie based on the life of Edith Piaf. I only had a vague notion of who she was at the time, but I learned about her though books, a documentary on PBS and of course her recordings. A few years later while studying film at a community college I decided to take a French class. It fulfilled my language requirement but more importantly, I knew I would have to learn French before filming could begin on my 9 hour miniseries on the life of the Little Sparrow. I've always had incredibly detailed daydreams...come to think of it, not so unlike my nocturnal dreams.

My project never got beyond the dream stage, but happily writer/director Olivier Dahan was able to bring his vision of Piaf's life to the big screen in La Mome, which was renamed for American audience La Vie en Rose after one of Piaf's most popular songs.  It is for her performance in this film that Marion Cotillard was awarded the 2007 Best Actress Oscar making her the first actress to win for a French language performance.

The film is told in a series of seemingly random flashbacks as Piaf approaches death. One moment she's 30, then she's 5, then she's 20, and so on. It's dizzying and intense and feels a little sloppy, leaving some major early life events for the picture's final reel. I remember thinking that the film could have benefited from a more linear time line, but then it occurred to me that if I were on my deathbed reviewing my life, everything would not come back to me in a neat, orderly package. No, this is exactly how it would come, as a series of flashes and waves crashing through my mind like high tide during a late summer storm, and chronology be damned.

I've always thought of Edith Piaf as sort of the French Judy Garland. They were both big voiced singers adored by their countries, celebrated internationally, struggling with addiction and money troubles while trying to hold on to their talent, and ultimately leaving the stage rather early, much to the shock and sorrow of their fans.

Piaf packed a lot of hard living into her 47 years, and the delicately beautiful Cotillard does not shy away from the role's uglier moments, both physically and emotionally. 

[Note: I love the way the "painting" turned out and it feels vaguely French to me, but I have to confess most of it was achieved digitally after I hand colored my original sketch.]