La Môme (2007)
US Title: La Vie En Rose
Director: Olivier Dahan
Actors:  Marion Cotillard, Pascal Greggory, Emanuelle Seigner,Jean-Paul Rouve, Gerard Depardieu

I am a francophile.

I started speaking French when I was in sixth grade.  My school made a suggested switch from Putonghua to French for all latin based language students.  I was more than happy with this change.  I had been sitting through countless lessons trying to learn the different tones of Mandarin and writing out characters which I could never associate with anything other than something that I had to draw out since the second grade.  It was a hard language for me to navigate, even though I was fairly good at it.  I willingly abandoned my Chinese books in favour of a crisp new French book.  The first class, I listened in awe as my teacher introduced herself completely in French.  I fell in a complete and hopeless addiction with the beauty of it.

In that year, we were exposed to more than just counting to ten, but plunged into literature, history, culture, and film.  I began falling in love with various French novels and movies.  I remember sitting on the floor, in front of the television in class, taking in every word I heard and every scene I saw.  By the time high school rolled around, I was coping with French the best I could, struggling to find advanced classes to keep up with my knowledge.  Films saved me.  I watched movie after movie and begged my parents to buy me the one French channel that was offered while we lived in the States, briefly.  I exposed myself to a language I could never hear through the only means I could.  This immersion became second nature and a comfort on some levels even after my studies ceased.

Two years ago, I was at home with my parents.  My father had told me about this film he had seen about Edith Piaf while he was on a flight.  He watched it because he knew of my intense love for the singer and curiosity begged him to find what I had been talking about all these years and why I had been dragging him to the jazz section of the record store to purchase her music.  The minute he told me about the film I felt I had to have it…and one day while waiting for my mother outside a store, I found the film.  It was the fastest and best purchase I had ever made.

To say that Edith Piaf’s life was tragic would be an understatement.  The woman led a hard life.  She was born into hardness, struggled through her childhood, made ends meet where she could, and her life ended hard and fast.  She died at age 47 of liver cancer and was mourned like royalty by the French.  Olivier Dahan’s film documents the trials that surrounded Piaf’s life from childhood to her death.

Dahan created this biopic through a series of flashbacks and fast forwards.  It is quite disorienting to the viewer to be skipping though the various stages of her life, especially if they have had no prior knowledge of Edith Piaf’s biography beforehand.  However, while this disorientation may be present, Dahan flawlessly ties all loose ends together at the conclusion of the film.  I believe that the distracting skipping effect that the film seems to carry only adds to the confusion which the audience sees Piaf moving through in her life.  The effect, rather than being distracting, adds to the experience of the film.

Piaf’s repeated encounters with St Therese of Lisieux can be arguably untrue.  While many biographers cite that Piaf prayed to the saint since childhood, the reality is that Therese was not sainted until 1925, three years after biographers cite Piaf’s pilgrimages and prayers.  However, the addition of this element in the film, I believe, provides some source of relief from the brutality of life which is occurring before the viewer’s eyes.  The saint is presented in a very magical light, especially when revealed to the young Piaf, which adds to the mystical quality of the story and the life of Edith Piaf, which is celebrated as legendary.

Dahan’s inclusion of Piaf’s love for fellow artist, Billy Holiday, is a beautiful remark upon the events that occur in the film.  The parallel between the two women’s lives is uncanny, and indeed noted by those in the audience who are familiar with that era of music.  The scene in which Piaf sits between the pictures of Holiday touching up her lipstick is a beautiful comment upon the beauty buried within the tragedy.

The one important aspect of Piaf’s life which the film does not touch on is her work in the Second World War.  Perhaps this was not included because of the controversy which surrounded her at that point in time.  However, I think that it is a part which Dahan could have produced splendidly.

I do believe, however, that Dahan’s portrayal of Piaf’s loss of Marcel Cerdan, the love of her life, was touching, heart-breaking, and incredibly composed.  As Edith tears through the house in search of her love and frantically walks down the hall toward what becomes a stage, only to compose herself to sing with passion, the audience begins to comprehend the tragedy that surrounded Piaf’s life and work.

This film has become one of my favourites.  I think that the artist is portrayed in a fairly true light, showing her passionate flair, temper, intense love for her art, and the tragic events which surrounded her life, from growing up in a brothel to her painful drug addiction.  This film is not for the faint of heart; it is heartbreaking, but the underlying theme is the beauty which came from that heartbreak.

Director: Olivier Dahan

에디트 피아프 (Edith Piaf) 역의 마리온 꼬띠아르 (Marion Cotillard). 신들린 듯한 연기를 보여주었다고 세평은 얘기하지만, 내 생각에는 너무 ‘과하다’ 라는 느낌이다. 제 80회 아카데미 여우주연상을 수상케한 오스카상 관계자들에게 딴지를 걸만한 주제는 되지 못하지만서리… 글쎄…

한사람의 일생에 관한 고찰을 한정된 시간의 영화로 표현한다는 것이 쉽지는 않겠지만, 불꽃같은 삶을 살다간 한 여가수의 일생이란 광고카피에는 좀 역부족인 각본이 아니였던가 싶다.

어린시절 내가 알던 프랑스 샹송가수는 ‘사랑의 찬가’ 를 부른 에디트 피아프, ‘고엽’ 을 부른 이브 몽탕 정도밖에는 몰랐던 때가 있었다. 특별히 에디트 피아프를 기억하는것은 단연코 그녀의 노래 ‘사랑의 찬가’ 에서였다. 당연히 가사를 알아들을수는 없었지만, 슬픈 느낌으로 애잔한게 떨리면서도 힘이 있었던 그녀의 목소리는 유난히 여렸던 유년기 추억의 한 단편이었다. ‘사랑의 찬가’ 를 부른 가수에 대한 기대감이 너무 커서였을까.  ’장미빛 인생’ 이라는 타이틀을 달고 나온 이 영화와 그녀는 이제는 나에게 너무나도 객관적인 대상이 되어버렸다.

Click on the image below to see the Lady Dior Brand Films. A beautiful series of short films directed by Olivier Dahan, featuring Marion Cotillard.

Le TGI de Nanterre a jugé que le site Wikio.fr n’était pas l’éditeur, mais bien l’hébergeur, des contenus qu’il diffuse. Un agrégateur de flux RSS qui diffuse automatiquement des informations provenant d’autres sources, est-il éditeur ou hébergeur de ces contenus  de blogs? Le 25 juin dernier, dans un jugement au fond, la 1ère chambre du Tribunal de Grande Instance de Nanterre a confirmé « sans ambiguité » le statut d‘hébergeur de ces sites, rapporte aujourd’hui Legalis.

Source : ecrans.fr

Marion Cotillard a prêté son image pour la nouvelle campagne du mythique Lady Dior… Vous avez dû apercevoir la campagne de presse où elle est sublissime grâce à Peter Lindbergh… Le sac n’est pas merveilleux car il fait “mémère”, mais Marion le rend tellement glamour !

Voici le making off du film d’Olivier Dahan :

ช่วงนี้ชีวิตของเลดี้วิตต้าคือการเดินทางจริงๆ เพราะเมื่อคราวก่อน Chanel เพิ่งพาพวกเราไป Moscow คราวนี้ Dior  เลยขอพาพวกเรากลับมาสู่เมืองหลวงแห่งแฟชั่นอย่าง Paris บ้าง

ถ้ายังจำกันได้ Chanel เอา Audrey Tautou มาแสดงบทนำในหนังโฆษณาของ No.5 Dior เลยขอนำสาว Marion Cotillard ดาราระดับออสการ์จาก La Vie En Rose มาแสดงนำหนังสั้นทริลเลอร์ของดิออร์ที่มีชื่อว่า The Lady Noire Affair โดยมีผู้กำกับจากหนังเรื่องเดียวกัน Olivier Dahan มากำกับหนังสั้นหลายตอนของดิออร์ในคราวนี้

แอดของเลดี้ดิออร์ที่เป็น Marion โพสท์ท่าบนหอไอเฟลบนส้นสูงปรี๊ดกับกระเป๋าเลดี้ดิออร์ จากแอดนั้นแหละ เราจะได้เห็นที่มาที่ไป และเรื่องราวความลึกลับที่ซ่อนเงื่อนอยู่ทั้งหมดอย่างช้าๆ ทีละตอนๆที่ดิออร์จะค่อยๆปล่อยออกมา ขอรับประกันอีกแล้วว่าหนังเรื่องนี้สนุกจริงๆ เหมือนได้ดูหนังในโรงภาพยนตร์เลยทีเดียว เผลอๆหนังดีกว่าหนังห่วยๆที่พวกเราเสียเงินไปดูในโรงหนังเสียด้วยซ้ำ!

I have to say, I’ve always loved Christian Dior! And this film is really quite well made starring the beautiful, Marion Cotillard. Wish I can imbed a better version of this but the youtube version is just fine!

The awesome heels she’s wearing in the Eiffel Tower scene is gorgeous. And the bag — I want one! Watch it now! It’s a short film and there’s a continuation so watch the first installment so you are not behind! By the way, the name of the film is The Lady Noir Affair.

The Dior fashion house just launched on the Internet a 6 minutes 30 seconds thriller directed by Olivier Dahan starring Marion Cotillard, muse of the legendary Lady Dior handbag. Marion play a wonderfully dressed femme fatale and it’s almost like watching a 6 ½ minutes Hitchcock film. Dope!

Tras el anuncio de Chanel nº5 aquí teneis “The Lady Noir Affaire” (Un film de Olivier Dahan) Via: Fubiz

After Chanel nº5 announcement here you have “The Lady Noir Affaire” (A Olivier Dahan film) Via: Fubiz

**Aaaa J’adore Paris!!!**

Aqui estão algumas imagens e o teaser da próxima campanha da Dior “The Lady Noire Affair” com Marion Cotillard.

As you may know, the Dior fashion house is to launch on the Internet a 6 ½ thriller entitled “The Lady Noire Affair” on May 20th. This cinematic campaign brings together the multi-award winning team actress Marion Cotillard and film director Olivier Dahan (“La vie en rose”). You should take a look, this is really good.

Un film del 2009, regia di Olivier Dahan, con Renée Zellweger / Forest Whitaker. Prodotto da ()

Drammatico

Tra un’ex cantante, ora sulla sedia a rotelle, e un pompiere ricoverato in ospedale dopo un incidente sul lavoro, scoppia la passione.

Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won’t come again

It seems the writers and critics will get another chance to witness history in transition. The man who famously prophesized about a battle that was ragin’, an order that was fadin’, a road rapidly that was agin’ has got that old feeling again— a change is coming on.

The news broke with the report that Bob Dylan had contributed a song to My Own Love Song, the upcoming road picture by French filmmaker Olivier Dahan starring Rene Zellweger and Forest Whitaker. But when the confirmation of the possible existence of an entire album of new material appeared on Dylan encyclopaedist Michael Gray’s blog on January 22, Dylan aficionados heeded the call: the creative juices were flowing, the spigot was back on and soon we’d be drenched to the bone.

Of course, it was the title that excited the Dylan community most—“I Feel a Change Coming On.” And even though Bob has since settled on “Together Though Life” as the moniker for what’s anticipated to be another Dylan masterpiece, the mere mention of ‘change’ on a Dylan album, especially when that mention is made by Bob himself, is all that’s needed to get the Bobcats buzzing…What kind of change are we talking about here? A personal change? A political change? As with all things Dylan, the speculation is half the fun.

But rather than play into what would undoubtedly become an endless loop of pondering, reflection and rumination on exactly what ‘message of change’ Bob will impart this April, I thought I’d turn my attention to the messenger. Or should I say messengers…

Last November, Ben Parr of mashable.com offered an insightful take on the modern times in which we live. Titled, “5 Ways Social Media Will Change Recorded History,” the gist is this— history is no longer a thing of the past; history is now.

And in light of the recent flurry of cyber speculation revolving around Dylan’s new album, it got me thinking how different both Dylan and his body of work would have been had he come to prominence in an era when we truly had no secrets to conceal.

Here are the five tenets put forth in Parr’s article:

1) Everyone will have the ability to know what you did and who you were with on a daily basis. We all like to keep our business to ourselves, but Dylan takes anonymity to another level. Sure Bob has a snazzy new website loaded with all the ‘community’ bells and whistles. Yes, he has his own MySpace page. And while it’s uncertain if he has opened a Twitter account, as much as we’d all enjoy that ‘never ending tweet,’ there’s no comparison that “Come mothers and fathers / Throughout the land / And don’t criticize / What you can’t understand,” trumps “@oldgeneration why r’t u getting this” any day. Besides, Bob’s earned the right to express himself in more than 140 characters.

2) Historical trend analysis will leap to a new level of precision. No more relying on gatekeepers and guardians whose sole source of power comes from self-preservation. Actually, Dylan would probably have liked this. As Bob himself said, “Come gather ’round people / Wherever you roam.” But whether he likes it or not, Dylan himself is a gatekeeper, a purveyor of popular culture. And as the most prolific and prescient songwriter of the 20th century wouldn’t it be a shame to have the enduring contributions of Bob Dylan overlooked in favor of lesser contrarians who have simply caught the most prevailing wave of public opinion?

3) We will not use history to learn from our mistakes, but to prevent them before they happen. In a culture where prevention prevails, there’s no question Dylan’s vast discography would have been dramatically different if Dylan hadn’t occasionally let his guard down. Some of Dylan’s best work has been an attempt to put his past indiscretions in perspective. Four words: Blood on the Tracks.

4) There is little room for hiding details about our lives. In 1995, Clinton Heylin painstakingly chronicled Dylan’s life down to the minutest detail in Bob Dylan: A Life in Stolen Moments, Day by Day: 1941-1995. It’s no coincidence Heylin hasn’t come out with a second edition. In this age of limitless access to information, we no longer need a noted Dylanologist to collect the stolen moments of Bob’s life. Thanks to Google, we can do it ourselves.

5) An ethical war over the use of this information will arise. We live in an era of ‘remix’—a time when the notion of a pure, unadulterated ‘artistic vision’ is a thing of the past. Thanks to photography websites like Flickr, and community online editing sites like Stroome, the ‘remix’ culture is no longer upon us— it’s already arrived. And if you think Dylan hasn’t got caught up in the mix, you only need to think back a few weeks to Pepsi’s recent Superbowl ad that mashed up Bob and Black-Eyed Peas front man, Will.i.am. Talk about a mangled message.

Considering the all encompassing prevalence of social media, it should hardly be a surprise that the way we came to hear about the new Dylan album is the same way we get all our information these days. Because whether it’s looking back on the monumental moments of the past, or peering head on into the mundane nature of our daily lives, in the end history is essentially a story in transition— history is change.

But in this era of excessive transparency, it’s somehow comforting to know that we can still rely on Dylan to see the forest for the trees…

It’ll soon shake your windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin’.

Interested in reading Ben Parr’s complete Mashable article? Click here.

Jag önskar så klart att rubriken betydde att jag själv gjort intervjun.

Men the breaking news är istället att hans nya album, som det ryktats ett tag, visar sig vara verklighet.

Det heter Together Through Life, släpps den 28 april, och började som ett uppdrag för filmmusik, till Olivier Dahans nya film My Own Love Song.

En låt som hette Life is hard.

Som Dylan själv berättar:

We started off with Life is hard and then the record sort of took its own direction.

Plattan andas uppenbarligen mycket Chess från 50-talet.

Så till en början låter det som ett album som tar vid där de två senaste slutat.

En gammal man som djupborrar i den musik han växte upp med och släpper ut den med en modern ljudbild.

Men uppenbarligen skiljer sig Together Through Life sig från föregångaren Modern Times.

På frågan om varför Dylan inte mjölkar tidigare framgångar så tycker han snarare att han redan gjort det.

We milked that cow dry.

Mannens humor verkar vara intakt, i alla fall.

Här en intressant intervju, hämtad från www.bobdylan.com.

Un film del 2009, regia di Olivier Dahan, con Renée Zellweger / Forest Whitaker. Prodotto da ()

Drammatico

Tra un’ex cantante, ora sulla sedia a rotelle, e un pompiere ricoverato in ospedale dopo un incidente sul lavoro, scoppia la passione.

Aujourd’hui se tenait la Journée internationale pour l’élimination de la violence sous toutes ses formes à l’égard des femmes (physiques, conjugales, exploitation sexuelle, viol, infanticide et avortement sélectif, trafic humain et enlèvement, mutilation sexuelle, esclavage…). Lundi prochain, ce sera celle de la lutte contre le Sida.

Deux campagnes, deux sujets graves à des degrés différents, deux façons de traiter l’information et la prévention. D’un extrême à l’autre. Dans le premier cas, les violences conjugales mises en scène par Olivier Dahan avec TBWA/Paris pour Amnesty France. Un film choc, direct, sans concession qui provoque et réveille. Essentiel dans un monde où certains droits humains sont sacrifiés sur l’hôtel de l’indifférence et du silence.

Dans le deuxième cas, Elie Semoun joue la carte “petite annonce prévention” pour AIDES. Aseptisé et raté. À quoi bon le soft de la part d’une association engagée reconnue, qui lutte contre une maladie toujours aussi taboue ? À quoi bon fêter 25 ans d’action et ne pas en profiter pour faire passer un message percutant, alors que les médecins des services spécialisés voient arriver de plus en plus de jeunes et que RIEN ne permet de guérir du Sida aujourd’hui ?

Oscar-winning actress Renée Zellweger has joined the cast of My Own Love Song, the English-language debut for writer/director Olivier Dahan (La Vie En Rose). Zellweger steps in for Sharon Stone (the Basic Instinct films), who recently left the project.

Described as a “road movie”, My Own Love Song will be a love story between a former singer in wheelchair and an injured fireman. The film will start shooting next month and co-stars Forest Whitaker (Street Kings) and Madeline Zima (Showtime’s Californication).

Renée Zellweger will next be seen in the western Appaloosa, rolling out on September 19th in the US and the UK.

Source

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what we really mean when we talk about social media. When is a marketer’s online activity truly social, and when is it not? An encounter with Cartier’s Love by Cartier MySpace page has given me reason to ponder.

In 2006, Cartier created the Love Charity Bracelet. For each bracelet purchased, a portion of the sale is donated to a select group of charities. This cause marketing effort has been executed annually, featuring a different set of charities each year. In 2008, the initiative is being publicized with a MySpace page, in addition to Cartier’s own dedicated microsite. Both are built around this year’s theme, “How far would you go for love?”, which is brought to life elegantly through the works of several Cartier-sponsored artists and musicians, and a series of 12 short films directed by Olivier Dahan (La Vie en Rose). There’s a link to the “Love Collection,” of course, although apparently only a purchase of the Love Bracelet results in a donation.

I guess we can’t blame Cartier for marketing their products at the same time they support social causes, and with up to $200, or 20%, of the purchase price going to charity, they aren’t being stingy. Still, I couldn’t quite get over a certain uncomfortable irony that Cartier, a luxury goods brand that, perhaps more than any other, we associate with the wealthiest people on the planet, is supporting such charities as Action Against Hunger and and SOS Children’s Villages. (Perhaps I’d be more comfortable with a charity for the families of injured diamond mine workers in South Africa.)

But I digress.

I was struck by the consistency of content, design and feel between the Love by Cartier MySpace page and the company’s Love Cartier microsite. With links enabling seamless connections between the two, I often didn’t know where I was and found myself looking to the address box to find out. From a branding point of view, this consistency makes perfect sense. But it begs the question, why have a MySpace page at all? What does the MySpace presence offer that’s different from the website, especially with regard to social and conversational dimensions — the exchange of thoughts, ideas and opinions that often characterize brand experiences in online communities like MySpace and Facebook?

To be sure, there are some limited social networking features on Cartier’s MySpace page. You can add it to your MySpace favorites, friends, or groups. You can email links to content. And you can post a comment. But that’s about it. Primarily it’s a multimedia presentation of the Cartier Love Collection initiative. Beautifully produced; noble, elegant and superbly polished like the brand it represents; simple and refined in its structure and navigation. An outstanding and rewarding digital execution, but not truly exemplifying the best of how brands can connect through the power of social networks and communities. Not that it really matters. I doubt the Cartier crowd spends a whole lot of time participating in online conversations. (But I could be wrong.)

You certainly can call Cartier’s MySpace initiative social in as far as it supports social causes. And that’s fine. Only it isn’t really “MySpace.” It’s “TheirSpace.”

Au mois de décembre dernier j’avais décidé de mettre quelques pubs sur la violence conjugale dans l’un de mes billets.  Aujourd’hui je veux en rajouter une autre, une pub réalisée par Olivier Dahan, d’une durée de 2 minutes 30, une pub française pour Amnesty International.  La pub qui met en scène trois acteurs français de renom, Clotilde Courau, Didier Bourdon et Claude Perron, nous transporte dans l’univers d’un film muet nous montrant une escalade de violence d’un homme qui perd complètement le contrôle et qui se met à la toute fin à frapper sa femme sans pouvoir s’arrêter, jusqu’à ce qu’une femme, qui assiste à la scène en compagnie de d’autres voyeurs, ne décide de mettre fin à cette scène horrible en poussant un “STOP” sortie tout droit du silence.  D’ailleurs le message est clair: “Ne restons pas muets face aux violences conjugales”.  La violence conjugale appartient bien à l’époque de la parole, ce n’est pas un phénomène qui appartient au passé, qui fait partie d’un temps révolu, puisqu’en France nous dit le message à la toute fin, “une femme décède tous les trois jours suite à des violences conjugales”.  Je vous invite donc à visionner ceci: