• Issue 3
• Arts & Entertainment

Faced with any problem or difficulty in our daily lives, most of us tend to adopt a fatalistic outlook, thinking that this is it, the biggest disaster that could happen to an unlucky resident of this wretched world, that the world has come to a very unfortunate end which no power can possibly revoke! Well, believe you me, you know nothing about disasters unless you see this film!

La Vie en Rose (or La Mome) is the biopic of Edith Piaf, perhaps the most sensational French singer, who in her surprisingly short life of 47 years lived through a litany of misfortune and maleficence. She was abandoned by her singer-mother at a very early age, raised in a brothel, almost went deaf and blind during her childhood, did menial jobs in a circus as a teenager while her father worked as a contortionist, became addicted to the eneteretainers diet of drink and drugs, and... the list goes on.

Actually, she had a sweet and tender love affair with the French boxing champion Marcel Cerdan, but I'm afraid that right from the beginning one gets the feeling that this is not going to have a happy ending either, as the story of her disaster-packed life rightly suggests. And strangely enough, there is no mention in the film of her association with the French Resistance during the 2nd World War which is very well-known. The ware years are surprisingly written out of the script

With a good supporting cast, beautiful cinematography and an astonishing lead performance by Marion Cotillard, director Olivier Dahan has made an interesting film that, despite the gaps and drawbacks, is able to keep you alert to the end, unlike most biopics and lifestories that turn out to be so predictable. Dahan, a music video director, has drawn on his experiences in this field in making La Vie en Rose. He describes the narrative as "impressionist as opposed to linear" which somehow explains his editing style and the sense of unpredictability it has brought.

Well, if you are one of those people I described right at the start, I suggest you'd better go and see La Vie en Rose, or better still buy the DVD and always keep it at hand, just as a reminder that you're not as unfortunate as you like to think. And the film is a rare treat for the eyes and ears!

Image: Courtesy of IMDB

Nikfarjams Top Five
Tell No One!
Lucky You
Not here to be loved
Zodiac
La Vie en Rose