French torch singer Edith Piaf lived a tough life--born in the Parisian gutter and abandoned by her parents multiple times, she was discovered by a club owner, busking brassily on a streetcorner, during the rough years of the 1930s--and never looked back. Given a stage name ("piaf" is slang for "sparrow") and some polishing voice lessons, she took first Paris and then the west by storm. Along the way, she lost a child and a lover and nearly lost her sight; she married and divorced and married again; she suffered through car accidents and addictions and early failing health most likely brought on by alcohol abuse--and she died slowly and tragically at the age of 47 from liver cancer.
The film La Vie en Rose brings Piaf to life--and dramatizes both her tremendous force of personality as well as the terrible manner in which she aged, failed, and died before her time. In the final scenes, we see a diseased, mortally ill Piaf refusing to give up the stage--and repeatedly collapsing before audiences as she tries to will her broken body to belt out one more song.
The most moving aspect of the film centers on her decision to adopt and debut "Je ne regrette rien." Piaf was in terrible health, and entering an irreversible decline when she first heard the song. She had decided to cancel a performance, and only listened to the song to be polite. But as she listened, she was transformed--so inspired that she decided to perform after all.
The lyrics seem to have been written just for her--and they call out to everyone who believes wholeheartedly in freedom of choice. They speak of the importance not only of choosing, but of being free to make bad choices as well as good ones. And they underscore how precious that freedom--to choose, to err, to remember, to love, and to embrace a lifetime and a future of choices--is.
Non, rien de rien
Non, je ne regrette rien
Ni le bien qu'on m'a fait, ni le mal
Tout ça m'est bien égal
Non, rien de rien
Non, je ne regrette rien
C'est payé, balayé, oublié
Je me fous du passéAvec mes souvenirs
J'ai allumé le feu
Mes chagrins, mes plaisirs
Je n'ai plus besoin d'eux
Balayés mes amours
Avec leurs trémolos
Balayés pour toujours
Je repars à zéroNon, rien de rien
Non, je ne regrette rien
Ni le bien qu'on m'a fait, ni le mal
Tout ça m'est bien égal
Non, rien de rien
Non, je ne regrette rien
Car ma vie
Car mes joies
Aujourd'hui
Ça commence avec toi...
Non Je Ne Regrette Rien