It also turns out that, while musical idioms sometimes have a hard time crossing the barriers of language and culture, certain narrative clichés are universal. It turns out that we Americans don’t have a monopoly on singers and composers who emerge from traumatic childhoods, battle drug addiction, pursue difficult love affairs and win the hearts of millions. This is not because it explains Piaf’s appeal - though it does offer viewers a chance to sample the glories of her voice - but rather because it assimilates her life neatly into the conventions of the musical biopic. Dahan’s film goes some way toward bridging the gap. She won’t even try a corned beef sandwich at a Manhattan delicatessen.īut Mr. After a less than rapturous stateside reception, the film’s Piaf (played by Marion Cotillard) observes that Americans just don’t get her, and though she seems to have a good time in New York and California, the incomprehension appears to have been mutual.

As if acknowledging the challenges it faces in finding an American audience, “La Vie en Rose,” Olivier Dahan’s long, feverish film biography of Édith Piaf, notes that its heroine, an incomparably bright star in the French cultural firmament, never quite caught on over here.

La vie en rose edith piaf m4a