Marion Cotillard who stars in the French film, "La Vie en Rose," really deserved the Oscar, but I didn't think she'd get it. I thought that Julie Christie and Ellen Page were both ahead of her in the annual popularity contest.

I was delighted to see Cotillard win, because her performance was one of the best I've ever seen in a film. She completely disappears into the role of the famous, French singer, Edith Piaf, playing the legendary singer from the time she was a teenager until she died at age 47 (She looked more like 80.)

Cotillard's victory gives me another chance to recommend "La Vie en Rose" or "Life Through Rose Colored Glasses." Even thought the film has been out of theaters for a long time, it's available on video for anyone who enjoys great acting and creative filmmaking.

If you saw Cotillard on TV at the Academy Awards, you know she looks like a movie star. But in this great biopic she transforms herself into Piaf (also known as "The Little Sparrow), a tiny singer with big eyes and a strong voice whose journey through triumph and despair is both exhilarating and tragic.

The legendary singer was raised in a brothel and discovered on the streets of Paris. And most of her life was fueled by alcohol, drugs, and her own tempestuous emotions.

The movie doesn't follow a straight line. Instead, it swoops in and out of the high and low points in Piaf's life, never confusing the audience but often surprising us.

Piaf was a difficult, often unlikable person. She frequently used her celebrity status to bully people and insist on her own way, but Cotillard's amazing performance keeps us tied into her joy and her pain.

The soaring emotion of her signature song, "Non, Je Le Regrette Rien" (No, I Regret Nothing) is also her epitaph.

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