La Vie En Rose

Guide Note

La Vie En Rose is a non-linear French language film about the life of singer Edith Piaf. Marion Cotillard's starring role in the film earned her the 2008 Academy Award for Best Actress. Didier Lavergne and Jan Archibald won Best Makeup at the 2008 Academy Awards.

Fast Facts

1. Director: Olivier Dahan
2. Starring: Marion Cotillard, Gerard Depardieu, Sylvie Testud
3. AKA: La Môme
4. Release Date: June 8, 2007 (US)
5. Piaf's original recordings were used in the film
6. Title means "The Life in Pink"
7. Premiered at the Berlin Film Festival
8. 2008 Academy Award winner: Best Actress for Marion Cotillard and Best Makeup
9. Academy Award winning for best leading actress and best makeup

The Music of Piaf

Original recordings of Edith Piaf's voice were used throughout the film because the director thought it would be nearly impossible to recreate her unique sounding voice, although there were four songs performed by singer Jil Aigrot. Those songs were Mon Homme, Les Momes de la Cloche, Mon Legionnaire, and Les Hiboux. Aigrot did not sing full versions of these songs, but pieces because they were sung during scenes where Pilaf's character was ill.

Who is Edith Pilaf

Pilaf was a French singer considered the country's greatest performer. Her life was a series of difficult relationships, sickness, and career highs and lows, all of which she put into her poignant ballads. Her first love, boxer Marcel Cerdan, was an affair that ended in Cerdan dying in a plane crash. It was after this suffering that Piaf married twice, first to singer Jacques Pills and then to a Greek hairdresser Theo Sarapo. But it was on October 10, 1963 that Pilaf's life was cut short when she died of liver cancer. Denied a Roman Catholic funeral due to her lifestyle, a funeral full of tens of thousands of fans showing their love and support for Pilaf stopped traffic in Paris for an afternoon.