I felt compelled to write about this film. The French has a way with films. The film subject is especially interesting. The story centres on the singer Edith Piaf. Pretty much unknown in Asia, I think that's why it holds such fascination for me when I first watched it. The structure of the story is pretty chaotic, but there's some form of connection. It moves back and forth of Edith's early childhood to her last days. The "chaotic" nature of the time-leaping actually keeps me glued and really interested. As an artiste myself, I felt such strange familiarities and similarities with Edith's struggles in becoming a true artiste. A few good examples are the strict tutorials given by her mentor. The importance placed on her articulation of the lyrics in the songs given is an essential lesson all aspiring artistes need to pay attention to. Then there was the scene when she was actually shuddering before coming up onto the stage to perform for the first time. Aaaah, that scene is one to remember. There was a dead silence when Edith opens her mouth to sing. The scene ends in a somewhat a glorious rapture for the singer and the viewer too. Lastly, Edith's life theme seems to be centred on "separation", where you can see how emotional she got when she was separated from her brothel guardian and later her close friend. The theme separation is again played out with her married lover. This particularly dreamy scene is quite beautifully photographed, where the camera opens with Edith waking up when kissed by her lover. Not knowing that he was killed in an airplane crash, Edith walked around her hotel demanding her subordinates and questioning about their awkward appearances. Then in the end, Edith found out about the news, and found her lover missing from the bed.
The ending of the film is again much hopeful. I thought there will be awful mourning or second-hand testimonials of how great she was. But no! The film ended with a few bright notes, at least to me. One: being her perceived "abusive" father who finally bought her the exquisite doll she longed for at the shop. Second: when interviewed by a reporter asked her: "If you were to give advice to a woman, what would it be?", and her simple reply was "Love". Why do we feel for strange-looking characters MORE than stereoypically good-looking men and women? Maybe a majority of us are already tired by looking at these "good-looking" artistes. Not that we hate them, but just too many of them already. And all the unfair advantages seem to be in their favour, and not to the less good-looking ones. Films with interesting character traits always fascinates me more. Edith Piaf is not beautiful at all, which speaks on behalf of those less fortunate ones. Her wide eyes and spaces between them makes her look much like the younger sister of Peter Lorre, the actor who played the horrific child-murderer in Fritz Lang's "M". The way she walked and talked is all too raw and real, and mind you, she's a singer! In today's pop world standards, Edith Piaf would definitely be out if she comes to audition for any reality singing contest! The "whole package" criteria restricted upon reality TV show contestants is really a double standard. The local judges of these shows could not see true talents and be veiled only by looks alone.
Let a new era begins, when all of us reading this article pledged to themselves to see beyond the superficial and dig deep into a person's innate talent. Let no man be defined by how he looks , but by how big he can dreams. Force talent to be your only drive in all your endeavours, my friends. Let looks be second or insignificant, if possible."Americans want beauties, not me. I'm not the Parisian bombshell they expected. Can you see me as a chorus girl? Where's my feather up the ass? They think I'm sad, they're dumb. I don't connect to them." Edith PiafBut that is what gives normal-looking everyday folks, anybody who aspires to become an artiste hope. The hope that no matter how "UGLY" you perceived your looks to be and how limiting, it's your TALENT that rises above others. That means whoever you are out there, reading this article, I dare you to rise beyond your shell, stop limiting yourself of who you can be and bravely shows the world your talents and shine brightly. Don't let imaginary obstacles hold you back. Question only how committed you are in becoming an artiste. Help is always here. Hey, you can always take an artiste training course. Call 012-2350091 (Mr.Liew). HURRY, next intake is in March 2009.
