Fedele Papalia Movies
Writer/director Olivier Dahan (Crimson Rivers II) helmed La Vie en Rose, the screen biopic of tragic French songstress Edith Piaf. Marion Cotillard portrays Piaf, the superstar once raised as a young girl by her grandmother in a Normandy bordello, then discovered on a French street corner -- as a complete unknown -- by cabaret proprietor Louis Leplée (Gérard Depardieu). The film segues breezily between various episodes from Piaf's life -- such as her lover, French boxer Marcel Cerdan's (Jean-Pierre Martins) championship bout in mid-'40s New York; her period in Hollywood during the '50s; Piaf's abandonment as a young girl by her contortionist father (and earlier by her mother, a street singer); her brushes with the law as an adult; and her 1951 car accident and subsequent morphine addiction that caused her to age well beyond her years and left her barely mobile; and, through it all, her ability (like Billie Holiday) to funnel personal tragedy and emotional struggles into her vocalizations -- dazzling audiences in the process. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi
- Starring:
- Marion Cotillard, Sylvie Testud, (more)
- 1994
This gentle French comedy, set in Paris around 1960, follows the tribulations of an upper-crust Catholic family who finds itself suddenly living in a humble working-class apartment. After the Baron Guidon de Repeygnac loses his money from a stock swindle, he is force to move himself, his wife the baroness, their eight children, and the maid from their tiny Parisian apartment and into a humble, efficiency apartment in a government-subsidized low-income housing project. The baron tries to become a traveling salesman. The baroness, unable to adapt, begins to have regular nervous breakdowns while her children become street-wise urchins. Their new life is hard, but they quickly discover that there are benefits from it. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Delphine Rich, Samuel Labarthe, (more)
- 1992
- R
In this hectic farce, Louis Aubinard (Bob Hoskins) is at the bottom of every totem pole he's ever come near, a nebbish and unattractive man who makes a poor living as a photographer of religious tableaux. His sister doesn't respect him and deliberately cooks awful food just to makes his life more miserable. At work, he is in danger of losing his job if he can't find a suitable model for a Christ-on-the-cross photo. One of his friends (Jean-Pierre Cassel) asks him to fill in for him on a movie project, and without knowing what he's being asked to do, Louis agrees to help out. He is astonished to discover that he is to provide the voiced-over cries of orgasmic delight for a porn movie. His fellow dubber is a lovely woman named Sybil (Natasha Richardson), and together, they voice a world-shaking sexual climax for the movie. Sybil then asks the hapless Louis to do a favor for her, and once again, he agrees. He meets the actress' boyfriend (Jeff Goldblum) as he is being released from jail and simultaneously finds his model for the troublesome photo. Things become particularly frenetic when the addle-pated ex-con takes his holy image too much to heart and begins trying to work miracles. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Bob Hoskins, Jeff Goldblum, (more)
- 1992
- PG
In this comedy, an actor masquerades as another more appealing man in hopes that his ex-wife will fall in love with him. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- C. Thomas Howell, Ally Sheedy, (more)
- 1990
- PG
An American comic (Patsy Kensit) is trying to make it in the comedy dens of Paris, but her soon-to-expire visa forces her to visit a marriage broker. He fixes her up with a songwriter (Stephane Freiss), but French immigration remains suspicious even after the marriage. ~ John Bush, Rovi
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