La Vie En Rose

Movie: La Vie En Rose
Like/Don't Like: Like-ish

I have found that with most music biopics the performance of the star of the film and the music that accompanies it are usually the best part. I'm thinking of Ray and Walk the Line here. The same is true with La Vie en Rose - a film about Edith Piaf and her bulging eye balls. Marion Cotillard is sensational as Edith Piaf and the music is amazing. At one point in the movie someone says that Edith Piaf is the voice of Paris and I have to say it's true. Whenever I think of classic French music I hear her bold, passionate voice and an accordion. Well, the accordion goes without saying because every single song I've ever heard that was in French has an accordion. Which makes me wish I were born in France because maybe I would have learned how to play one. It is a wish of mine to play the accordion while wearing a sparkly vest. I like to dream big.

But if Marion Cotillard and the music with all those accordions are the best parts, the worst parts are just about everything else. It was all jumbled. We're at the end of her life, then when she's a kid, then back to an old lady, then a teenager, then older but not really old. And one minute she looks like she's dying and the next minute she just looks drunk and you're not sure if it's when she's actually dying or just one of her spells. And there's all these people who are her friends but you only know a few names and only recognize a few faces and were they with her earlier or later? And when did she go to California? And when did she get married anyway? You can't tell because it just keeps jumping around and her hair keeps changing from red to black to red to black. It was slightly exhausting. And I kept sitting up straight but she had the WORST posture.

But then there were all of those wonderful songs. So I liked it. Sort of.