La Vie En Rose

I finally had time to watch this movie, and wow. Wow, wow, wow. What do I really want to say? The music, oh the music. The songs are achingly beautiful, and are made even more stark and breathtaking by the dim, dramatic lighting of the smoky cabarets and underground bars where Piaf made her earliest appearances.

The story is presented in a nonlinear fashion; in fact, without knowing a bit about her life prior to watching, I'm sure I would have had trouble following the story. However, I believe it was the intent of the director to bring us through her journey, with her beginnings as a beggar on the streets of Pigalle to her rise to fame, and her eventual sorrowful demise, with memories of happier and more dismal times haunting her into death.

Marion Cotillard was brilliant, and completely deserving of her Oscar for this part. Gerard Depardieu was wonderful, fatherly, and utterly loveable, despite being a gruff gangster in the film. I will say this: at times, this movie was incredibly difficult to watch because of the heartbreaking content.