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Edith And Marcel

1983, Movie, NR, 140 mins

Edith And Marcel: Review

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This sad tale of romance devotes equal time to two love stories--that of singer Edith Piaf and boxer Marcel Cerdan, one of the most celebrated love affairs in France, and the romance between a chubby French POW and his schoolgirl pen pal, who correspond for four years and agree to marry without ever having met. Had these stories not existed, director Lelouch would surely have invented them. The film begins in 1949, when Piaf (played by Bouix) learns of the death of her lover, Marcel (played by Cerdan's son, Marcel, Jr.), in a plane crash over the Atlantic. The film then flashes back to 1939, where it spends the next hour on how these lovers meet. Cerdan, who would eventually become the world middleweight champion and a hero to all of France, and Piaf meet in a New York restaurant and become nearly inseparable, despite Marcel's having a wife and children in Casablanca. Jacques and Margot meet for the first time at a train station after the war, although Jacques is not quite the man Margot expected (this soldier had his love letters penned by an army mate Cyrano far more eloquent that he). For the remainder of the film, we watch the two romances ebb and flow--even crossing paths on one occasion, when Jacques and Margot attend a Piaf concert. Yes, EDITH AND MARCEL is terribly sentimental in the manner of a storybook tale but no more so than so many of Piaf's great songs. The soundtrack is filled with her music (and that of one of her many collaborators, Aznavour, who plays himself). The result is a film that is not so much a biography as an adaptation of the sad songs Piaf made famous. Bouix does an admirable job in her two roles and flawlessly lip-syncs Piaf's original recordings. Cerdan, Jr., is touching in a strangely powerful casting decision (as an actor he must portray the love of his father for the woman with whom his mother had to compete). The choice was made after the death of Patrick Dewaere, who was originally slated to star. (In French; English subtitles.) leave a comment
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