La Vie En Rose

a true biopic in the grand Hollywood tradition of the genre, La Vie En Rose tells the story of legendary French singer Edith Piaf, and gives the younger generations an opportunity to learn more about the amazing fate of this true French icon. Edith Piaf is considered by many to be a larger than life, not only because of her persona and accomplishments, but also because of the many tragedies that littered her life. From her impoverished childhood and abandonment by her mother, to her famous love-affair with (married) world champion-boxer Marcel Cerdan, the film manages to give a good overview of the many chapters of her life, without feeling too scholarly. Through it all, Marion Cotillard plays the role with touching honesty and an incredible depth of emotion. There is no show-offness on her part, and the evolution of Piaf as she gets sicker and sicker toward the end of her life is made totally believable (although the makeup was amazingly done as well) by her bravura performance. The emotional weight of the music scenes increases as the movie progresses and we learn about her life, which culminates in an exceptional scene of Piaf singing her most famous song Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien at the Olympia.
As often in this genre, the movie is far from perfect, at times felt longish, and some parts of her life are forgotten entirely (for example her role in the resistance during WWII) while others get a passing mention. Then again the point of a biopic isn't to cram everything about a person's life in 2h+, but to give the audience an idea of what that person stood for. And in that sense this movie is a success, with a particularly thrilling last 20 minutes.