Edith Piaf - A Passionate Life

Rating:
Summary: a disappointment
Review: Although the performance sequences are sublime, there are far too few of them to make this DVD worth purchasing. This documentary provides only the sketchiest of biographical details, leaving the viewer with far more questions than answers about what made the famous Parisian singer's life so remarkable and yet so short. Skip this and go directly to the A&E Biography's show on Piaf.

Rating:
Summary: FOR DIE-HARD FANS ONLY
Review: Edith Piaf was a fabulous singer and performer,
but this DVD is not the place to start your
appreciation of this legend. It is a transfer
of an old 1967 documentary originally shown on
French television, 4 years after her death. The
French language dialogue is "overdubbed" in
English throughout, in other words you can hear
the faint original French underneath the new
English narration. That is distracting, but
bearable. The documentary itself is nothing to
write home about. If you don't know anything
about Piaf, you will be lost in places. For
example, there is a photo montage of her lover
Marcel Cerdan, the boxer who was killed in a
plane crash, and who was the inspiration for her
classic "Hymne A L'Amour". But aside from photos
of French newspaper headlines about the crash,
no other explanation is made as to who this man
is. There are lots of clips of people riding
on merry-go-rounds, views of French countryside,
etc. while you hear Edith singing in the background
with very bad video quality. Of course, the actual
clips of Piaf performing are worth the price you'll
pay for the DVD. She is just sublime, even as you
can see she's approaching the last years of her
life. But again, the visual quality is abysmal in
spots. I'm sure it's hard to come up with pristine
footage of someone from another continent who died
over 40 years ago, but one wishes that the producers
had dug a little deeper. That said, the Little Sparrow

was one-of-a-kind, so if you're a big fan, you'll
probably want to pick this up. But for novices, I'd
say skip this and just buy a remastered CD of her
classics, many of which are available on Amazon.

Rating:
Summary: FOR DIE-HARD FANS ONLY
Review: Edith Piaf was a fabulous singer and performer,
but this DVD is not the place to start your
appreciation of this legend. It is a transfer
of an old 1967 documentary originally shown on
French television, 4 years after her death. The
French language dialogue is "overdubbed" in
English throughout, in other words you can hear
the faint original French underneath the new
English narration. That is distracting, but
bearable. The documentary itself is nothing to
write home about. If you don't know anything
about Piaf, you will be lost in places. For
example, there is a photo montage of her lover
Marcel Cerdan, the boxer who was killed in a
plane crash, and who was the inspiration for her
classic "Hymne A L'Amour". But aside from photos
of French newspaper headlines about the crash,
no other explanation is made as to who this man
is. There are lots of clips of people riding
on merry-go-rounds, views of French countryside,
etc. while you hear Edith singing in the background
with very bad video quality. Of course, the actual
clips of Piaf performing are worth the price you'll
pay for the DVD. She is just sublime, even as you
can see she's approaching the last years of her
life. But again, the visual quality is abysmal in
spots. I'm sure it's hard to come up with pristine
footage of someone from another continent who died
over 40 years ago, but one wishes that the producers
had dug a little deeper. That said, the Little Sparrow

was one-of-a-kind, so if you're a big fan, you'll
probably want to pick this up. But for novices, I'd
say skip this and just buy a remastered CD of her
classics, many of which are available on Amazon.

Rating:
Summary: for die-hard fans: motion seconded
Review: For those of us in N. America who have to use "Zone 1" DVD's and long to see Edith Piaf singing, this single DVD is the slop available to us. Even the translation of the very poorly made French documentary is itself poor: the documentary's English over-dubbing begins by saying that the deceased Piaf was being remembered on Oct. 10 1963 - which is amazing since she didn't die until two months later! Most professional over-dubbing allows the listener to hear a few words spoken in the original language before the translation begins but not in this DVD: you'll have to listen closely to catch a few non-sung French words of Piaf.

What makes the DVD worth buying is the 5 extended clips where she sings all or most of a song - even though the video quality is very poor. The unique way she used her arms when singing - developed when she was a child street singer trying to hold her audiences' attentions - are shown well in "Milord" and "L'Accordioniste". Fortunately there is a clip of her singing "La Vie En Rose" (one verse) which includes some nice closeups, but "Mon Dieu" ("My God") shows only her hands held in prayer. Two other major songs: "L'Hymne A L'Amour" and "Padam...Padam..." are played while viewing things associated with Piaf's life.



Rating:
Summary: other ways to start with La Piaf...
Review: I've bought this DVD in Brussels, Belgium in the european version, which is region2. There is no dubbing in it, so if you care for that and understand French, that's a possibility.
It's title in french is "UNE VIE DE PASSIONS"and even has an hour extra footage.There is NO english talking in it at all !
Also : nowadays it's not too strange to buy a dvd-player which is region FREE! If you have on , than buy a GRRREAT Piaf DVD , titled "L'HYMNE À LA MOME " on EMI:7243 599030-9(5) , which has
20 (!) songs by Piaf, from all parts of her career,including some very rare film clips in which she sings too. Even some of the clips are in color! Now THIS is worth buying for any fan, it's beautifully made and a real treasure.This DVD also has lots of extra's ,like over one hour private home movies and 10 minutes film-news clips. Hope to have been of any help for the fans here!

Rating:
Summary: a disappointment
Review: Unfortunately there is nowhere near enough substance to this DVD. Edith Piaf gave a lot of televised interviews in her life, and only a few little tidbits are included here. Only the sketchiest, barest biographical details are included, leaving the viewer with far more questions than answers about why Edith Piaf's life was so remarkable and so short. The performance segments are very good, and for that alone I am glad I purchased this DVD, but if you are looking for something like an A&E Biography on the famous Parisian singer, this is definitely not for you.