No Regrets

Forget the surprisingly knuckleheaded reviews being offered up by some of our most reliable critics and judge the many merits of La Vie En Rose for yourself. Olivier Dahan’s biopic is downright marvelous. A big, overstuffed Dickensian melodrama, it careens around the screen with the reckless spirit very much like that of its hallowed subject, Edith Piaf. The jolting jumble of the chronology which has made some reviewers apoplectic is, as far as I’m concerned, an appropriately cinematic representation of the chaos that was Piaf’s life. And in a career-defining performance, Marion Cottilard breaks your heart as the legendary Little Sparrow. Beautiful cinematography courtesy of Tetsuo Nagata , by the way. And a dashing turn by Jean-Pierre Martins as boxing champ and Piaf’s one great love, Marcel Cerdan.

A wonderful movie. My Top Ten List of 2007 has officially launched.