New Moon is nothing if not an international advertisement for the hungry virtues of virginity and young people can’t get enough of it
The Twilight Saga: New Moon
Theatre
A smart, prickly and rewarding view of sexual and emotional confusion
Cock
Restaurants
Kitchen W8 is a bargain for this area, if such sophistication is what you crave
Kitchen W8
Too long and drawn out but very entertaining with excellent special effects
This is a peculiar play and does not work for me. Some of it is very funny but there are real flaws
Alex has a strong powerful voice and was faultless, she is far better now than she was on the X-Factor
London,
Evening Standard rating
Reader rating
Dir: Olivier Dahan.
Cast: Marion Cotillard
Winning ways: Marion Cotillard, this year's Best Actress in La Vie en Rose
"Marion who?" The money men wanted Audrey Tautou to play Edith Piaf. But French director Oliver Dahan stuck to his guns - and refused to make La Vie en Rose if he couldn't cast unknown actress Marion Cotillard.
And what a performance it is. Cotillard, who snatched Oscar victory from Julie Christie yesterday, gives us the French sparrow in all her grubbiness.
Forget Keira poncing around in ball gowns or Sienna playing party girl Edie Sedgwick, this is the story of a woman who actually put working-class culture on the map.
Dahan doesn't spare us the details of Piaf 's life - brought up in a brothel, she went blind for several years; later she was discovered singing on the streets of Paris.
A brilliant tyrant who drove her supporters to despair, she became addicted to drink and morphine and died at 47. But she refused to be defeated by her damaged childhood.
Shot as a jumbled, impressionist canvas, the film will charm and infuriate in equal measure (lovers come and go, we only learn in the final frame she had a child who died, and what about her singing for the Nazis?).
But I defy anyone not to melt as Cotillard, 32, transforms from street urchin to radical artist to invalid.
Frustratingly few people saw La Vie en Rose when it opened last June. But it has been re-released to coincide with awards season.
And there are many reasons to cheer. This is the first time a Best Actor Oscar has been given for a French language performance.
Finally, it is a truly international award (no Oscars went to American acting talent this year). And the night belonged to Cotillard. Even her hair won an Oscar (which went to British make-up artist Jan Archibald).
In the film Piaf ages from 17 to 47 (but looks 77). Armed with a series of fright wigs, Cotillard, an Amazonian beauty, manages to convince us that she is a 4ft 9in arthritic waif with a shaved forehead and no eyebrows.
God knows how she pulls it off (normally Hollywood freaks over hairless women). She says she just willed herself to look that way. What a girl.
• On limited re-release.
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
I saw the film the first week of it's release in nyc last year. It moved me to so many places, it is a fantastic film! Marion Cotillard's nomination stunned me as I never imagined Hollywood would take notice of such talent. She is tremendous in this role, absolutely marvellous. I'm happy that Marion Cotillard won her Oscar, she truly deserves it!
- Kat, NYC, USA
La Vie en Rose is fabulous and I can't recommend it enough. My wife and I have been twice and many of my friends have also seen it. I am told it is one of the most successful French films of all time in the UK and it has been in cinemas since June, so contrary to the comment in this review I am sure many people have already seen it, but do go if you haven't. Cotillard is magnificent.
- Harry Graham, Tunbridge Wells, Kent
Morning:
14°c
