LA VIE EN ROSE

The award winning french film La Vie En Rose (La Mome)-a biopic about the extraordinary life of singer Edith Piaf (1915-1963)- was anything but extraordinary. Maybe, just maybe I felt this way because I went into the movie theater with such high hopes-after all it had won two Oscars and a handful of other foreign awards- however this is only the slightest possibility.

The story opens with young Edith brought from the gutter by her father- a short-tempered circus master- to be looked after in a local brothel by her paternal grandmother. From this moment on the movie flashes to various moments of time in her life in a very un-chronological, disorienting fashion. It jumps from scenes where she works for her father in the circus performing and doing small chores, to scenes where the artist is nearing the end of her life and career- all of which tend to be cold and heavily depressing. At 20, she is discovered singing on a street corner by a local club owner, who then introduces the young singer to a performance coach through whom's rigorous training she blooms into the legendary "Edith Piaf". Apart from that the viewer is opened into the artist's life full of peripheral fleeting companions, alcoholism, heartache, quiet drug abuse. Despite these intimate insights however, like those who surround her in the film, the viewer struggles to develop any sense of intimacy with Edith. Perhaps we empathize with the many hardships she faces, but director Olivier Dahan, through his cinematic style, leaves the viewer only in Edith's periphery. The short flashbacks/forwards in time as well as the countless scenes showcasing Edith drunkenly shouting at her "loved ones" or appearing completely withdrawn and disoriented serve to separate the artist from her fans and movie-goers.
Although many of these cinematic tools are most likely being employed to help the viewer get at the core or Mme Piaf and put the viewer almost directly in her shoes, it is a cinematic failure, for Danah fails to consider his audience from the moment he begins. Like I said, maybe this just is the essence of Mme. Piaf, but then if so, I appreciate her less.