La vie en Rose (La Môme)

FLICK Director Olivier Dahan turns in a stunning epic portrait of one of the most beloved vocalists of the 20th century from a child until her death. The performance of Marion Cotillard as Edith Piaf holds the film together and is Oscar-worthy. She inhabits all of the body language and expressions of the Little Sparrow as a starving girl singing for her supper in her late teens to the fragile woman who is losing her flaming-red hair and dying of cancer. In Piaf's later years on stage, she occasionally looks like a kabuki version of Judy Garland, but it's the music that sweeps you along. Because of the fierceness of the performance, the fact that Cotillard is lip-syncing to Piaf's recordings remains insignificant and virtually undetectable. Though Dahan avoids showing us life in France during WWII and seems to miss details that would otherwise delve into Piaf's sorrow, the film is nevertheless visually exquisite. Screened at the 2007 Philadelphia Film Festival where it won the Audience Award for Best Feature Film. My Score: 8.5 out of 10.