Julie Christie deserved an OScar!

The movie about Edith Piaf's life, La Vie En Rose, is pure fiction, just a sugar-coated piece of propaganda to cover up the fact that she was a treasonous collaborator with the Nazis. Also, her outrageously rampant promiscuity is glossed over when it is central to her self destructive tendencies. Anyone can pretend to be a victim. Cotillard does resemble Edith Piaf (although Piaf was only 4' 8") and gives a very good performance. Contrary to the claim of some contributors, Cotillard's performance in La Vie En Rose is NOT the best ever by a female. In fact it was not the best performance by a female in a leading role that year, I thought Julie Christie, Cate Blancett and Ellen Page gave better performances than Ms. Cotillard.

Ms. Piaf's career during the Second World War is hardly mentioned. The reason is while millions of French citizens suffered terribly under the oppression of German occupation, Ms. Piaf lived a life of ease and luxury with her Nazi friends and benefactors. She gave numerous concerts in France and Germany to help boost the morale of the German troops. And that is an act of treason. The stories circulated about her after the war, e.g., she was a member of the Resistance (which has always been denied by the Marquis), saved one Jew from the Nazis, had one friend who was Jewish, and that the only reason she gave concerts in Germany was to help the French prisoners of war to escape is just more sugar-coated propaganda. Although, French actress, Arletty, was one of a very few to be punished for having an affair with a German officer (she went to prison and was forbidden to work for three years), Ms. Piaf and other popular, prominent French men and women who were very willing collaborators, committed treason, had sexual liaisons with the enemy, etc., etc., escaped execution by the Marquis through the intervention of Charles de Gaulle and other leaders. Only a personal appeal by his old friend, General Eisenhower, saved Maurice Chevalier from certain execution as a collaborator by the Marquis in late 1944. But I digress.

Away From Her is actually a beautiful love story that deals with the tragedy of alzheimer's disease. As someone who is dealing with a family member with alzheimer disease, both Julie Christie and Gordon Pinsent's performances ring true and were amazingly accurate in the description of the ravages of that terrible disease. Ms. Christie is compelling and believable. Her terrific acting was worthy of an oscar.

But that Gordon Pinsent is a thief. He steals almost every scene he's in and his performance was equal to, if not better than, the performances by all the other actors nominated in the best actor category that year: Daniel Day Lewis (There Will Be Blood), George Clooney (Michael Clayton), Johnny Depp (Sweeney Todd), Tommy Lee Jones (In the Valley of Elah), and Viggo Mortensen (Eastern Passages). I have seen these actors in these movies and Gordon Pinsent's performance would not out of place. At least, he deserved a nomination. Then again Mr Pinsent is in some very good company with actors blatantly snubbed by the academy, e.g., Gene Kelly (Singin' in the Rain); James Stewart (It's a Wonderful Life, Vertigo); Peter O'Toole (Lawrence of Arabia, Becket, The Lion in Winter and five others, eight nominations in all, without a single win!); Richard Burton (Becket, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, Anne of a Thousand Days and four others, seven nominations in all, and no wins!); Sidney Poirier (To Sir With Love, In the Heat of the Night); Gregory Peck (The Keys of the Kingdom, 12 O'Clock High); Jack Lemmon (Some Like It Hot, Days of Wine and Roses, The Apartment); Brad Pitt (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button); just to name a few.

I used to question the value of the Academy Awards and the integrity of the IMDb ranking system. I now believe them both worthless to evaluate acting performances and cinematography.




"Who, being loved, is poor?" (Oscar Wilde)