GERMANY: 57th Berlin Film Festival kicks off with a gala screening of French Edith Piaf movie 'La Vie En Rose'

Record ID: 472102

  • Title: GERMANY: 57th Berlin Film Festival kicks off with a gala screening of French Edith Piaf movie 'La Vie En Rose'
  • Date: 15th February 2007
  • Summary: PHOTOGRAPHERS GERMAN TV PRESENTER BARBARA SCHOENEBERGER POSING FOR PHOTOS
  • Embargoed: 2nd March 2007 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Germany
  • Country: Germany
  • Reuters ID: LVA6Y3REISQ59MJZU63OJA8CWCZP
  • Story Text: The 57th Berlin Film Festival kicked off on Thursday (February 8) with a gala screening of French Edith Piaf movie 'La Vie En Rose'. A large crowd gathered outside the snowy Berlinale Palace to witness the cast of the film walk the red carpet along with German and international celebrities.
    Edith Piaf's magical voice has cast a spell over Berlin, where the annual film festival opened on Thursday (February 8) with a moving portrayal of the tiny singer whose life was tainted by tragedy.
    "La Vie En Rose" is the first of 26 films to screen in the main festival competition, 22 of which are eligible for the coveted Golden Bear award handed out on February 17.
    The evening world premiere kicked off 10 frenetic days of screenings, interviews and partying for movie makers and the media, and Berlin's rapidly expanding film market also hopes to cement its reputation as a key place for studios to do business.
    "I feel great. No, it's good. Everybody is here and I'm really happy that we have 50 French people of the movie here, I think it will become a big bang. I just say hello to them all," festival director Dieter Kosslick said as he rushed to greet the German and international stars arriving at the Berlinale Opening Gala.
    "La vie en rose", called "La Mome" ("The Kid") in France, was a fitting opening to a competition featuring four French films, including the closing movie "Angel".
    Piaf is played by French actress Marion Cotillard, whose performance is already being lauded by the critics.
    She must portray the singer from the age of 20 to her death at just 47, from the highs of international fame and a passionate affair to the lows of loneliness, death, painful illness and drink and drug dependency.
    "I'm cold but I feel great!" the actress said as she posed for photographers on the red carpet.
    Cotillard lip-synched over original Piaf recordings, and the soundtrack featured many of her most famous songs including "Non, je ne regrette rien", "La vie en rose" and "Milord".
    Scenes from the second half of Piaf's life were interspersed with flashbacks to childhood, which she spent in poverty, much of it in a brothel where she lost her sight for several years.
    Hollywood sees Berlin as an effective launching pad for European releases of films already out in the United States, helping festival director Dieter Kosslick attract the likes of Clint Eastwood and Robert De Niro to the red carpet this year.
    They are expected to be joined by Sharon Stone, Lauren Bacall, Matt Damon, Cate Blanchett and Jennifer Lopez.
    True to its reputation for hard-hitting, arthouse cinema, the festival this year includes films about the conflict in the Middle East, World War Two, apartheid in South Africa and murder in Mexico.
    Among the highlights are likely to be "300", Zack Snyder's film based on a Frank Miller comic, "Irina Palm", starring Marianne Faithfull as a widow who accepts a job in a sex club and "Angel", about a young woman in early 20th Century England.
    Asia is well represented with four competition entries, include "Lost in Beijing" from China and "I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK", a South Korean entry featuring pop star Rain in his movie debut.
    Hundreds more features are screening outside the main competition, among them "Interview" by Dutch director Theo Van Gogh, who was murdered in 2004 by an Islamic militant after making a film accusing Islam of suppressing women. It stars actress Sienna Miller in what Screen International magazine calls her "breakthrough performance".
    Jury member, Mexican actor Gael Garcia Bernal said the Berlinale, which unlike big film festivals like Cannes and Venice, is open to public had a more real feel to it.
    "There's real people watching the films. Maybe that's something that makes a difference, I mean, it's real audiences, it feels," he said.
    The actor added that he looked forward to some good parties to balance out the hard task of watching films every day.
    "I'm looking forward to having time to go to the parties and stuff because we are watching so many films every day, so let's see, I hope," he said.
    Actor Jeff Goldblum, a Cannes and Venice veteran who is in Berlin to announce his latest film project, said he was impressed by what he had seen so far.
    "I'm no expert, I've been to Venice, I've been to Cannes, I was a juror at the festival. It's the first time I've been here so I don't know but it looks impressive and exciting and everybody is here, it seems great," he said.
    The 57th Berlinale was officially opened by jury president Paul Schrader. The American director, who has his latest film 'The Walker' screening out of competition at the festival, said he had forgotten to bring along the German notes for his opening speech, and had to be aided by the gala presenter to declare the festival opened.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2016. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register