Every day, AlloCiné recommends a film to (re)watch on TV. Tonight: Marion Cotillard in the skin of Edith Piaf.
It was in 2007 that Olivier Dahan carried out a long-standing project: that of a biopic on an artistic figure. In this case, it is the singer Edith Piaf, an icon known and adored internationally.
With La Môme, he signs, in a flamboyant way, a moving tribute that skilfully mixes painful stages of his life with his incredible repertoire.
If, at the time of the auditions, the producers lean towards Audrey Tautou, Olivier Dahan supports the candidacy of Marion Cotillard for her physical resemblance to Edith Piaf.
The actress, then mainly known for her role as a foil in the first three installments of the Taxi saga, is not “bankable” enough in the eyes of investors, even if she has toured with Tim Burton in Big Fish . TF1 divides its funding by three, while The Walt Disney Company withdraws from distribution.
Suffice to say that the actress proved them wrong. Invested body and soul, she embarks on a deep documentation, as well as an incredible metamorphosis. Marion Cotillard undergoes five hours of make-up every day, cheeks squeezed to look smaller, devotes her entire nights to meticulous technical work to render Piaf’s way of singing and gestures on stage on the screen.
Despite a grueling shoot and difficulties in getting rid of her character once it was finished, Marion Cotillard won, among other things, the Oscar for Best Actress (becoming the third French actress to obtain this statuette, after Simone Signoret and Juliette Binoche) and the César of the same category.
In addition, La Môme won the Oscar for Best Makeup, saluting the impressive transformation of the actress. Buoyed by her awards and the enthusiasm of the public (more than 5 million admissions in France; 86 million dollars in receipts collected throughout the world), Marion Cotillard began a Hollywood career punctuated by numerous prestigious collaborations (Michael Mann , Steven Soderbergh, Christopher Nolan…).
La Môme by Olivier Daha with Marion Cotillard, Jean-Pierre Martins, Gérard Depardieu…
Tonight on TF1 Séries Films at 9 p.m.