Cotillard's Oscar lifts France

It is extremely rare for the French morning news to start in English. That happened today when they all opened with Marion Cotillard's euphoric acceptance speech for her best actress Oscar in Hollywood.  "It's true there is some angels in this city," she said.

Cotillard's success gave France a reason to feel proud on a grey Monday full of gloomy news.  Only one French actress had ever won such an Oscar, if you don't count Claudette Colbert in 1938. She grew up in America and was a US citizen.  Simone Signoret won in 1960 for her role in Room at the Top. What pleases France so much is that La Môme (The Kid, but released in English as La Vie en Rose) is a French-language film. Only once before has the best actress gone to a non-English speaking role. That was Sophia Loren in La Ciociara in 1962.  Juliette Binoche won an Oscar for best supporting actress for her part in The English Patient in 1997 -- but that was English-speaking too.

France did pretty well this year. The make-up artists of La Môme won a second Oscar for the film and the prize for best short film went to Philippe Pollet-Villard for Le Mozart des pick-pockets." Cotillard also scored a quadruple triumph, winning a Golden Globe, BAFTA award and the French César for her role as well as the Oscar.

Everyone recognises that La Môme/Vie en Rose had everything to please America -- a rags-to-riches biography picture featuring Edith Piaf,  a singer who was a star in the United States in the 1950s.  Elle magazine points out today that Cotillard is, like Piaf,  the quintessence of what the world likes about Parisiennes -- elegant and sexy but spirited and fun, not a haughty beauty.  She is also a superb actress who worked in the style of the Anglo-Saxon theatre not just to play Piaf but to turn herself into the singer.  Her Piaf is jouée à l'Americaine, one French critic noted this morning.   

Cotillard, who is 32 and the daughter of actors,  said that she did not know much about Piaf when she took the role in Olivier Dahan's film.  She immersed herself in the singer, "leaving only a little room to be me", she said.  Though she had not yet become one of France's biggest domestic stars, Cotillard now seems destined for a Hollywood career.   

    

Comments

[Bertrand Allais]

It's truly impressive to win a main Oscar when very few of the judges understand a word your character says except in dubbing or translated subtitles.

[millier marc]

Hshe is incredible actress , its true.
but Julie Christie is also a dazzling actress .
congratulations MARION.
and also Julie for her great perform
too

[Michel R, Londres]

And of course what comes immediately to mind when hearing this wonderful news is: in your face, Time magazine!! :D

[Daisy]

The Sublime and the Ridiculous!

What a weekend for France. Marion Cotillard wins (deservedly) and the President falls deeper into the gutter (inevitably)....the sublime and the ridiculous all in one weekend. And, of course, both the Sublime and Ridiculous overshadowed Madame Sarkozy's big debut (what does a girl have to do to get some attention?)

Michel, it's funny isn't it? The same Americans who pronounced the death of French culture has now rewarded a French actress in a french film. Maybe they are trying to revive French culture so that more Frenchmen can say 'in your face' :)

[azloon]

Remember Daisy, 'foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds' (ralph waldo emerson).

and hollywood isn't time magazine. there are many americas.

how can a country that gave the world Proust and Catherine Deneuve have such sensitivity about their cultural contributions?

[Daniel Strohl]

Daisy,

(what does a girl have to do to get some attention?)

It helps if she is intelligent and charming. But if this is the case, she will probably be envied at once (and not only by other women).
Et les cancans vont aller bon train!

Daisy, do you think that the main thing for a girl is to get "some attention"? If she deserves it, she has no particular effort to do to get it - D'accord, c'est pas juste, mais c'est comme ça!

[Rose]

I can't believe that she is 32. She looks and acts much younger...

[Donald]

An interesting sidelight is that TV5 Monde
(France 2) news spent almost half of its evening broadcast (Feb. 25) about Ms. Cotillard winning the American Oscar (almost 12 minutes out of 25 minutes) while it only spent about 2 minutes a few days ago reporting on all of the winners of the French César. What was missing this time was the usual putdown of Hollywood. It also says something about the French perception of the relative importance of the French vs American movie industries in terms of world wide interest - though I am sure they didn't mean to convey that impression. The French movie industry is highly subsidized while the American movie industry receives no subsidies. Almost half of the movie tickets brought by the French are for American movies. You can reach your own conclusions about socialism and which system produces more talent over the long run though no system can be expected to produce qaulity 100% of the time. The word Hollywood is usual used in a negative sense by the French media, but not today.

[John Gregory Flinn]

This film is a must to see.
How that lovely young actress managed to portray the aging Edith Piaf so realistically must be an experience not to be missed.
PS; I thought she came from St. Brieuc in Brittany, not Paris?

[john o'doe]

That acceptance speech made sure she is heading for a career in Hollywood.

[Valentin]

That's how they are, French women, always young at heart :)

[christopher muir]

Modest, highly talented and sincere in her gratitude to colleagues, one sees her acting all sorts of different and demanding roles in the future. She has done the French film industry a great service.

[Daisy]

DANIEL: I was being sarcastic about Madame Sarkozy!

AZLOON: perhaps the French are insecure???? :)

[Terry]

Speaking of Oscars, is that a new picture of Charles on the blog?

[rocket]

Not only do they use less soap and toothpaste but they pick their "nostroleams" in public.

Berk!

http://www.liberation.fr/actualite/economie_terre/312268.FR.php

[Mary-Laure]

Marion was the best-dressed lady at the Oscars, hands down. Her hairdo was so simple, unlike those stiff chignons around her, and the dress was exquisite, modern and classic.

I was a bit shocked to read so many snotty comments about her in Le Monde and other publications.
My point being: the French really hate a success story. Internationally successful women such as Laetitia Casta (super successful as a MODEL, ok?) and Vanessa Paradis seem to be target of a lot of (bitter?) hate.
I remember as a teenager reading so many horrible, mean things about Vanessa Paradis for instance...

http://mary-laure.blogspot.com/

[Daniel Strohl]

DAISY,

"DANIEL: I was being sarcastic about Madame Sarkozy!"

Yes, of course, even I could not possibly hav'nt got it right away - LOL!

Therefore, I wrote in her behalf "If she deserves it, she has no particular effort to do to get it".

[Peter]

Do remember how this film got put-down early on as being just another lip-synched common bio-pic in many other places. [yes the editing was needlessly confusing. It didn't need to be linear, but not quite so 'quantum' either.] I saw it twice I was so impressed by Cotillard's acting, her ability to go from youthful impudence to aging decay!
Does the early image of her singing on a street corner remind anyone else of Atget's photograph of an organ grinder and a young girl singing, face wide open and radiant?

[Romain]

Atn. Charles
I don't believe an English paper would submit his report to Gordon Brown before publishing, like Le Parisien did.

[christopher muir]

Peter -
Absolutely spot on! That Atget photo (which I often look at) is exactly what you ascribe to it. Great street singers they most have been - and what a master photographer Atget was.

[peter kinsley www.peterkinsley.com]

Marion, do not be tempted. Stay in France and in French films. I remember thinking this many years ago, about Rosana Podesta, the beautiful Italian girl in O Canganciero. Just as Tinseltown ruined the song "Ole I am a Bandit, a Bandit of the Hills!" they plastered thick make-up on this natural beauty and tried to tell her how to act. The great actors Yves Montand and Daniel Auteuill (viz. Manon des Source) do not need accountants telling them what to do. Nor does Marion. Merde a le Market Place!