Genres often get mixed up when it comes to telling one’s own story or translating a story from one medium to the next. Last year’s award-winning Spanish film Pan’s Labyrinth might just as well stand as a metaphor for this phenomenon as fantasy and historical fiction crash into each other. Some scenes of fantasy are slimy and disgusting, not much of an agreeable escape from the savage, depraved Falangists.
La Vie en Rose, the recent screen biography of Edith Piaf depicts an improbable–if it weren’t pretty much accurate–rise from the most-frayed edges of society. Her voice and discovery by those who could give her a career and turn her into a star are crucial, of course, but what makes the biographical facts into a compelling story is the way the film shows Piaf a lovable waif. Virtually every episode includes someone who wants to care for her.
