La Vie en Rose — Edith Piaf lived fast and died young, but she didn’t exactly leave a good-looking corpse. At 47, she looked closer to 67, her tiny body ravaged by the effects of long-time alcohol abuse, morphine addiction and, eventually, cancer. The fact that Marion Cotillard deeply immerses herself in the role as the doomed French songstress, making you forget that you’re watching a beautiful actress, is only part of what makes her performance great. Cotillard, who appeared opposite Russell Crowe in A Good Year, plays various stages of The Little Sparrow’s life — as a 19 year old being discovered singing on street corners, as a mercurial star at the height of her powers, and as a frail, demanding shell of herself on her deathbed. It’s almost as if she’s been asked to play three different roles, all of which she accomplishes convincingly, and with striking intensity. (Two younger actresses also play Piaf as a girl.) It’s the acting that elevates this story beyond its bio-pic trappings. Although director and co-writer Olivier Dahan tries to invigorate the genre by jumping around in time, the telling of this extraordinary life still feels a bit too familiar. Gerard Depardieu, Jean-Pierre Martins and Sylvie Testud co-star. PG-13 for substance abuse, sexual content, brief nudity, language and thematic elements. 140 minutes. Two and a half stars — Christy Lemire