La Vie En Rose

It's a sad fact that tragedy often makes for more compelling viewing than comedy. In the case of French singer Édith Piaf – born on a pavement in Paris, blinded by meningitis until the age of seven and dead from lung cancer by the age of 47 – her story should translate into cinematic gold. Piaf's rise from obscurity to France's most popular entertainer is told here in flashback/flash-forward/flash-sideways as a dying Édith (Cotillard) remembers her early life as a street, then nightclub, singer. Darkness permeates the film, both in theme and colour: blacks, browns and reds envelop characters in an evocative recreation of pre- and post-World War II Paris as a range of emotions surface. Piaf is portrayed as a strong, not always likeable, character. Cotillard's performance is always compelling, while Depardieu's cameo adds a touch of gravitas to an often absorbing, if structurally unsound, film. [Jonathan Melville]