This is one of those movies that jumps around a lot chronologically. Sometimes that can work pretty well in finding interesting ways to present dry material, or unique ways to color situations that might not have occurred to you when viewing everything on a straight time line. Here, it doesn’t work at all. When I say this thing jumps around, man it really jumps around. We get tiny snippets of Edith Piaf’s life, one after another, rapid fire, all jumbled up, for about two and a half hours straight. It’s mostly just confusing and disorienting; especially when the script consists of little other than moments where Piaf is screaming, crying, fighting, or just acting hysterical for one reason or another. You never get a chance to settle in to any of the plot threads and really grow attached to the way they are developing, you’re constantly just swept off somewhere else. The only moments that the film really settles down enough for you to sit back and enjoy it as a viewer is when it goes into a song. It’s a shame because I really like to hear Piaf sing, and I like Marion Cotillard as an actress. I wish I could have seen more of Piaf’s life other than just the condensed version of the bad parts, and I wish I could have seen Cotillard handle something other than melodrama. I can see why this got a lot of attention at The Oscars; it’s your typical, manipulative, biopic trash. They seem to love that. Won’t stop me from humming the music all night though.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Short Round: La Vie en Rose (2007) **/*****
This is one of those movies that jumps around a lot chronologically. Sometimes that can work pretty well in finding interesting ways to present dry material, or unique ways to color situations that might not have occurred to you when viewing everything on a straight time line. Here, it doesn’t work at all. When I say this thing jumps around, man it really jumps around. We get tiny snippets of Edith Piaf’s life, one after another, rapid fire, all jumbled up, for about two and a half hours straight. It’s mostly just confusing and disorienting; especially when the script consists of little other than moments where Piaf is screaming, crying, fighting, or just acting hysterical for one reason or another. You never get a chance to settle in to any of the plot threads and really grow attached to the way they are developing, you’re constantly just swept off somewhere else. The only moments that the film really settles down enough for you to sit back and enjoy it as a viewer is when it goes into a song. It’s a shame because I really like to hear Piaf sing, and I like Marion Cotillard as an actress. I wish I could have seen more of Piaf’s life other than just the condensed version of the bad parts, and I wish I could have seen Cotillard handle something other than melodrama. I can see why this got a lot of attention at The Oscars; it’s your typical, manipulative, biopic trash. They seem to love that. Won’t stop me from humming the music all night though.
