speed of dark

Indie Mom says that there are songs she knows from hearing them before birth. I have some of those too. A notable one, released five years before I was born, is "La Vie en Rose."

I can remember being very young, like four, and singing this song to myself with nonsense words of my own. Maybe I had heard the French lyrics and, not understanding them, figured whatever I made up would be just as good. The point is, this song was in my life for longer than I can remember. I was never very enthusiastic about the heavy vibrato, but I have to admit the voice is striking and unique. Now there is a movie about the owner of that voice.

My husband, Mr. Folkie, has an ear for female vocals. He mentioned Edith Piaf on our first date. So he was very interested in seeing the recently released French film of Piaf's life, La Vie En Rose, named for her signature song. It is English-subtitled and in limited release right now, so we had to travel a good distance on Sunday to find an art-house theater that was showing it.

I was deeply touched by this film, which is why I'm posting about it today. I doubt if I'll ever go back this far on Time Travel Tuesday or so depart so severely from our usual fare.

Piaf was not her real name; it was a stage name meaning "sparrow," and she was also affectionately called "la Môme" (the Kid), which is the French title of the movie. For non-French-speakers, pronounce her name like this: "Eh-dit pyOFF." Say the last name fast, as if it is one syllable, and you'll have a good approximation.

Edith Piaf lived a rock and roll lifestyle long before the likes of Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, and Janis Joplin. Unlike them, she also endured an incredibly hard life beginning with a nightmare of a childhood. Abandoned by her mother and estranged from her father, she spent her very young years in her grandmother's brothel. It seems as if on every occasion in her short life that she formed an emotional attachment, that person was taken from her in some way. The song "La Vie En Rose," which she co-wrote, is a fantasy of the love and security she dreamed of but perhaps never had.

While sympathetic, the film does not gloss over her flaws. She was often a rude and disagreeable person even to those who remained loyal to her. Her personality by turns was endearing, feisty, unbearable, demanding, childish, and childlike. She was both hard as nails and as vulnerable as the little bird whose name she adopted. And through it all, she sang and sang and sang.

This photo is actress Marion Cotillard playing Piaf.

Edith Piaf was not a beauty, and I admire that this film did not try to make her one. She was tiny, plain, and buck-toothed. When she was in love or singing, though, her pale face was radiant as the moon. When afraid or sad, her whole being seemed to retreat into her huge eyes. Grief, petulance, and the pain of the arthritis that afflicted her in later years could turn her face to a clownish white mask, with her red-painted mouth and tiny pencilled eyebrows like slashes across it.

The film focuses mostly on her emotional life and stage performances, skimming over lightly or missing entirely: her acting career, all the time she must have spent in recording studios, the fact that she wrote many of the lyrics of the songs she sang, her efforts on behalf of the French Resistance in World War II, and even her two marriages.

Possibly the best reason to see the film is the Oscar-worthy performance by Cotillard as Piaf. Cotillard takes the role from 20-year-old street singer to addicted, spoiled star to crippled crone on her deathbed at only 48 (but looking like 90). This is a truly break-through performance in a movie that otherwise would be good but not great. As word gets around, hopefully La Vie En Rose will appear in more theaters.

There would be no point in posting about this on a music blog if the songs weren't wonderful. All except three (and perhaps young Edith's impromptu a capella street performance of "La Marseillaise," the French national anthem) are Piaf's original recordings which Cotillard lip-synched flawlessly. You WILL believe she is the one belting out those numbers from her tiny gut, from her audition song "Les Mômes de la Cloche" (one of the three not Piaf's own voice) to the stunning final song, "Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien" (usually translated as "No Regrets"). "Padam Padam" is another fascinating song, incomplete in the movie because Piaf collapses on stage before finishing, but I decided to post "Cri du Coeur" because of the oddly dissonant guitar accompaniment, which I like.

Audiophiles should see this film. It's one of those movies you'll keep thinking about for days.

La Vie en Rose
Cri du Coeur
Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien

Sources: Official Movie site | Wikipedia
Soundtrack on iTunes | Lots of tracks on eMusic