So, I got dragged (basically kicking and screaming) to this French/Indie Edith Piaf biopic, and... OMG! It was incredible! If the broad that played the diminutive French icon doesn't get (at the very least) a nomination for her performace, then I've lost all faith in the Academy.

This was best film I've seen all year.

Psyched! this is playing down the street I think and I was like, 'whuts that?'

I have shown your post to the BF; he took high school French and apparently they didn't cover any French culture in their language classes like my high school did, so he has no clue as to who she was. He's gonna kick and not scream exactly, maybe whine, but it's playing down the street from us this week and I'm payin', so we're goin'!!!
I tell you now he will be impressed and want to go get an album afterwards. I'll update this later!

Thanks, Marc, for reminding me about this being out; I saw a clip on IFC last month and had forgotten about it.

I'm not buying it. I'll wait until video. Paris, je'taime, on the other hand...

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That may be wise, I saw it in this exclusive little theater in Cincinnati, and I was the only straight guy in the audience.

Thank you for the obvious heads-up on the attendees. I think if I ask the BF to go to one
more thing where he's the only straight dude, he's gonna either switch teams on me or kill me!
I don't tend to think in "gay" terms and am not self-conscious like he is (paranoid's more like it), so this could have turned into an ugly night like the Kathy Griffin show I took him to. I just think I'm there to have a good time and enjoy the show, HE thinks it's some sort of "event" planned by "them", like they all came in a bus together with signs and chanting. Argh!

Here's probably why I loved the movie:

1. I like tragic figures. However, even though they could have portrayed Edith Piaf in this Judy Garland/Joan Crawford light, with the alcohol and drug abuse - they don't ('cause it's not done in a campy fashion).

2. It's presented non-linear. It goes from the early 60s to the early 20s to the 40s, and so forth - so it's kinda heartbreaking when they keep cutting back to scenes less than 10 years before she dies, when she is still healthy and beautiful.

3. I would equate the directing of the film to that of a Paul Thomas Anderson film (like 'Boogie Nights') that is, a real 'feel' for the atmosphere, and some brilliant long camera takes.

4. I was surprised. Normally Biopics disappoint me. 'Ray'? eh. 'Walk the Line'? Blech. Reese Witherspoon signed a Faustian agreement for that Oscar.

5. Virtually everything that comes out in the summer is geared at mindless 13 year olds - and this flick is truly the antithesis of that kind of film.

Am I overselling it? Eh... probably, I said similar things about 'The Descent' last summer - but I still stand by both films nevertheless.

Did you see it at the Esquire Marc? Their theatres are pretty tiny.

I DID see it at the Esquire, as a matter of fact. And yes, it was was tiny, and it was also FREEZING!