Despite all the hype surrounding A Star is Born, I walked in skeptical that it was the inspiring masterpiece some claim. Listening to Jimmy Fallon barely making sentences praising Lady Gaga’s rendition of ‘La Vie En Rose’ strengthened that position.
Edith Piaf’s international French hit is one of the most abused song of all-time on film. It’s an eternal cliché. Its ability to transcend language as a soulful melody has been used in over a hundred films and shows. From WALL-E to The Simpsons, chances are you’ve heard it a dozen times without knowing it. When Audrey Hepburn sang it to Humphrey Bogart, it was a closing sentiment. In the Edith Piaf biopic that uses the song as its title, it’s a literal defining moment. And detached from any media, the song was originally an anthem of optimism and love in a post-WWII world. It gave war-torn Europe a look at “Life in rosy hues,” the title’s literal English translation.
How could Bradley Cooper–A Star is Born‘s director–transcend the song’s natural seduction?
Cooper takes a quite literal approach with the material. While Ally (Lady Gaga) takes center stage, Jack (Cooper) watches from the back, soaked in red light. What he immediately sees is a star performing, perfectly contrasted against the blue stage. The audience and Jack are a literal reflection of Ally’s song choice.
Earlier, as we see the title card pop up over Ally singing in an alleyway on her way to her set, her life is less than ideal. She breaks up with her boyfriend, whispering over the phone in a bathroom stall at work. All she can do is scream in frustration, rejecting his last-ditch proposal.
When she leaves work, she’s her boss, sitting in an ivory office, demands she take out the trash before she leaves. An isolating bathroom and dumpster- if this is her life, it’s anything but rosy.
Ally’s choice to sing Piaf is an aspiration, if not a vicarious vacation on stage considering it’s later revealed she still lives at home. Granted, she seems content enough there, but it’s nevertheless complicating being at home with her fame-obsessed father (Andrew Dice Clay). Despite his best intentions, his ad nauseam stories of what-could-have-been are constant reminders Ally could have better for herself. He talks as if he was on a first-name basis with Sinatra, and that he was better than Ol’ Blue Eyes himself, a story Ally knows verbatim.
It’s not until Ally starts dating Jack and going on tour that the lyrics truly take on life for her.
And though I close my eyes
I see la vie en rose
Ally first closes her eyes in disbelief when she’s singing with Jackson Maine, bathed in that same red light Jack was at the bar. It’s possibly the greatest cinematic moment of the year. While Cooper likely didn’t direct Gaga to close her eyes as a direct reference to “La Vie En Rose,” Cooper and cinematographer Matthew Libatique unintentionally create a strong enough parallel to help continue the motif.
And when you speak
Angels sing from above
Everyday words
Seem to turn into love songs
No four lines symbolize the story of Jack and Ally better. They work for both of them. Jack is Ally’s angel, and she is his. Their everyday life turns into song, and their songs are in turn their life together. Without the ability to live her music, Ally would have been stuck dreaming. But with Jack as a gateway, the question is answered both physically and spiritually as Ally hangs up a neon sign of “La Vie En Rose.” It’s her guiding light.
Give your heart and soul to me
And life will always be
La vie en rose
Here’s the bittersweet irony. If the story is read as Jack giving his heart and soul to Ally, how should his ending be read by her?
When Ally smashes a hallway of tour posters, her bare feet surrounded by shards of glass, life is anything but what she dreamed. But when she emerges in a dazzling blue dress at Jack’s memorial service to sing “I’ll Never Love Again,” a new life emerges.
This is where the star is born.
Ally will always remember Jack–both the joys and pains he brought–but when she looks into the camera before the credits roll, it’s a clear statement she’s ultimately emerged more powerful and confident than before.
Without Jack, she’s fully unleashed and can continue performing, continue her happiness and providing others that same joy that Jack initially found in her in a bar he just happened to walk into on the right night.
Jack’s quoted as saying that music is 12 notes between any octave. “It’s the same story told over and over, forever. All any artist can offer this world is how they see those 12 notes.”
Cooper took on this project as a remake of a remake of a remake, proving how he sees the same notes and produces something new. That’s remarkable on a grand level. How he and Gaga as co-author find a way to make one of the most cliché songs new and apply it to every level of the whole story along the way is just as impressive.
