(aka 'La Môme' or 'Edith Piaf' or 'The Passionate Life of Edith Piaf' or 'Untitled Edith Piaf Project' or 'La Vie en rose')
Directed by
Olivier Dahan
France / UK / Czech Republic 2007
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With the notable exception of 32 Short Films About Glenn Gould — a movie every bit as singular and uncompromising as its subject — every musical biopic ever made looks more or less the same. Humble origins, early opportunity, creation of signature sound, rise to fame, relationship hassles, loneliness of the road, substance abuse, death and/or decline with optional comeback. La Vie en Rose, Olivier Dahan's long, extravagant portrait of Edith Piaf, only demonstrates that French music-hall warblers lived through the exact same clichés as their hard-rocking counterparts in Britain and America. Dahan does his best to shake things up by opening with the "elderly" Piaf — she died at forty-seven, looking a good twenty years older — and then skipping back and forth in time, juxtaposing the struggling nobody with the ailing legend. But this approach only underlines the genre's inherent shapelessness, making each scene feel like a self-contained factoid (crippling conjunctivitis! car accident! accused of conspiracy in a gangland murder!) rather than part of any dramatic or even thematic progression. |
Posters
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Theatrical Release: February 8th, 2007 - Berlin Film Festival
Reviews More Reviews DVD Reviews
DVD Review: HBO Home Video (Extended Version) - Region 1 - NTSC
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| Distribution | HBO Home Video - Region 1 - NTSC | |
| Runtime | 2:20:15 | |
| Video | 1.78:1
Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 6.58 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s |
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NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes. |
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| Audio | French (Dolby Digital 5.1) | |
| Subtitles | English, French, Spanish, None | |
| Features |
Release Information:
Edition Details: • Featurette:
Stepping Into Character (4:3 - 7:22) |
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| Comments: |
I'm reviewing this DVD essentially because I loved this film so much. I recall listening to recordings of Edith Piaf when I was quite young - marveling at her emotional grasp and have heard nothing that compared as I matured to an adult. This is a beautiful portrait of a true, and rare, artist. HBO usually make very good DVDs and this is no exception. A competent progressive, dual-layered and anamorphic transfer coded for region 1 in the NTSC standard. Clean image with delicate contrast even amongst some intentional dramatic lighting shifts. Detail is occasionally strong. I really had no complaints what-so-ever with the way this film looked on SD DVD. I'd be curious as to how it could escalate in high-definition (hopefully it will one day).
The only supplement is a 7 minutes featurette entitled 'Stepping Into Character'. where the principles of the cast and crew give remarks on the film and Edith Piaf. I was blown away by this film and especially the stunning performance from Marion Cotillard - I really enjoyed every minute of it and strongly recommend this engrossing biopic - on this HBO DVD. |
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| DVD Box Cover |
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| Distribution | HBO Home Video - Region 1 - NTSC | |
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