O

Here's a wonderful interview with Marion Cotillard, courtesy of Goldenfiddle. In it she talks about her role, preparation, and the possiblity of an Oscar (which she refers to as the "O" word--love it). Click here for the interview.

Piaf

I wanted to reflect back on the woman behind the film. I knew very little about Edith Piaf before seeing "La Vie En Rose." That is, I knew a handful of songs--I can't think of a time when I didn't know the tune to "La Vie En Rose" or "L'hymne à l'Amour"--about a few of her love affairs (Yves Montand, Marcel Cerdan to a certain extent), and was able to quickly recognize the small lady in the black dress. Olivier Dahan's film opened up my eyes to La Piaf's life--as someone said before, Piaf makes Judy Garland's life seem like a walk in the park. I've rediscovered her unique talent and have been enriched in the process. I don't claim to understand the woman, but I can certainly empathize. For a nice primer on Piaf's life, here's a helpful link. Enjoy.

Irresistible

Here's another treat. Someone put together two excerpts and the trailer for "La Vie En Rose." The first excerpt shows Piaf, in 1959 (I believe), ill and exhausted but always wanting to go back to her audience. The second excerpt is Piaf's performance of "Non, je ne regrette rien." Chills. Finally, there's a short teaser trailer. Call it 3 1/2 minutes in heaven.

Lovely

Here's another interview (in French) of Marion Cotillard. This is part one:



And part two:



Enjoy! (Must say I love the jeans!)

Newsweek

Newsweek is already handicapping the Oscar race. Reflecting back on the summer offerings, the magazine singles out various performances:

"There are already three possible best-actress nominees from films released since May—Julie Christie for "Away From Her," Angelina Jolie for "A Mighty Heart" and Marion Cotillard for "La Vie en Rose." More...

Personally, I tend to disagree about a possible nod for Angelina. The film fizzled out pretty quickly and (unfortunately) her private life tends to overshadow her work. Julie Christie, on the other hand, is definitely a contender. Add Cate Blanchett to the list (even though "The Golden Age" does not come out until the Fall), I bet she'll get in. She's always excellent, and the previews look amazing.

Kael

There's a famous anecdote involving Marlon Brando's Broadway debut. Brando, probably the greatest actor to grace the screen thus far, revolutionized the art form. Although remarkable actors like James Cagney, Clark Gable, and especially Bette Davis, predated him by a few decades, it was truly Brando who galvanized an entire generation of actors, including James Dean and Paul Newman.

Film critic Pauline Kael attended a performance of "Truckline Cafe," a play in which then unknown Brando was starring. The scene that followed was this:

"Critic Pauline Kael saw Brando on Broadway, during one of the 13 performances of a 1946 flop play titled Truckline Café. Brando played a soldier who has just murdered his wife out of jealousy. Kael wrote that she looked away—she thought this young actor was having a fit onstage." (Source)

I guess the point I'm trying to make here is that many hardened reviewers are having similarly visceral reactions to Marion's performance in "La Vie En Rose." This is a watershed moment.

For years I had grown numb as to what great acting could be. Sure, a few performances came along which impressed me enormously--Kate Winslet, for one, always seems to put in performances that belong in that great thespian pantheon. Add to that list the great Juliette Binoche and the criminally underrated Gong Li. Peter Saarsgard has been doing some consistently wonderful, subtle work. Penelope Cruz was magnificent in "Volver."

But to watch Marion is to watch something leagues above the competition. It shocks the soul.

Observer

Famously mercurial critic Rex Reed from the New York Observer loves "La Vie En Rose." That's no easy feat, my friends, so enjoy:

"Ms. Cotillard has more faces than Piaf’s saga has chapters. Flawlessly lip-synching the icon’s passionate voice, she synchronizes Piaf’s energy, eyes, body language, madness, tragedy, triumphs and outrageous humor until you are galvanized by her greatness. The veins in her neck bulge like helium whenever Piaf reaches a note that shatters, and she even inhales when Piaf does. The non-linear style can be jarring, but somehow, in the scope of Mr. Dahan’s direction and the range of Ms. Cotillard’s virtuosity, you always know where you are and what period it is in Piaf’s life." More...

Brava

Just for kicks, here's another Piaf performance. This time she sings a personal favorite, Milord. Piaf projects so much energy and is such a great presence, so it's always a bit of a shock to see just how short in stature she was--especially when she's standing next to the not-so-tall-himself Ed Sullivan.


Greatness lives on.

Method

A recent interview of Marion's has come to my attention. It's interesting in that she talks about her process pretty in-depth. I found it fascinating that she's not a "method" actor, per se. Here's an excerpt:

"I have never used, nor will I ever use, my personal life to feed a character. I don’t want to do that because I think it’s dangerous for me to think of sad events in my life to achieve certain emotions. I’m not the person who will be sad about someone’s life and go into that kind of emotional state. I see Edith’s entire life and, yes, parts of it were sad but she was also a very “living” person. As an actress it gives me great pleasure playing tragedy because it involves huge emotions where you can express a lot of things and really let go." More...

LAFCA

Awards Daily is reporting that the Los Angeles Film Critics Association will be announcing its selections for the best of the best on December 9. More...

Prediction

This is a wonderful little essay in which Emanuel Levy makes a case for Marion's Oscar nod.

"It is with great pleasure that I nominate Marion Cotillard, the brilliant French actress who embodies the legendary singer Edith Piaf in the biopic "La Vie en Rose," as the first bona fide Oscar contender in 2007." More...

Fierce

When a review starts out with the line "The problem with La Vie en Rose..." we know it won't be pretty. Still, the reviewer keeps in line with the aforeto universal praise bestowed on Marion with gems like this:

"Piaf is played by Marion Cotillard, in a fierce and brilliant and finely controlled performance that you actually don't have to be French to understand. The endlessly allusive, ruefully jaunty charisma radiating from her heavy-lidded eyes seems congruent with that of the sparrow's voice, which Cotillard lip-synchs easily and impressively. Better still, she makes good, strong choices to show how the life Piaf absorbed informed the artist she became." More...

Promotion

When news are slow, turn to footage. Here's an interview (for French television) that Marion gave to promote the opening of "La Môme" in France this past February.

Escale sur Tv7 avec Marion Cotillard
Uploaded by Tv7bordeaux

Films

Marion's film, Les Jolies Choses ("Pretty Things"), will be available for purchase through the Barnes & Noble website beginning September 11. It will be in wide-screen format, and I assume it will come with subtitles. It's fantastic that some of Marion's previous films are becoming available here in the US. No word yet on when (or if) Mary will ever be released in NTSC format.

Moment

A nice few minutes with Marion--in French, sans subtitles (as usual). Enjoy.

Moment
Uploaded by nasound