The Piaf film “La Vie en Rose,” starring Gerard Depardieu, is one of four French movies challenging atmospheric Asian fare and big-budget Hollywood productions, including Clooney's “The Good German” and the De Niro-directed “The Good Shepherd,” for the Golden Bear prize.
Twenty-two films will challenge for the title of best film at the Berlinale, one of Europe's top three film festivals.
In “La Vie en Rose,” up-and-coming actress Marion Cotillard plays the diminutive Piaf, Depardieu her love-struck manager and Roman Polanski's wife, Emmanuelle Seigner, the prostitute who took her under her wing.
The competition entries in the 373-film festival also include the much-anticipated new feature by veteran French director Jacques Rivette and an AIDS drama by Andre Techine.
De Niro presents a slow-moving, earnest film about the founding of the CIA in “The Good Shepherd” while Clint Eastwood, who has made a smooth transition from “Dirty Harry” to Oscar-winning director, is showing “Letters from Iwo Jima” out of competition.
It recounts the World War II battle for a Japanese island from the locals' point of view and is one of a host of war stories screening at the festival.-—AFP