The troubled life of French songbird Edith Piaf, who died in 1963 at forty-eight, had enough drama to fill a dozen movies. Her upbringing in a brothel, followed by bruising encounters with sex, booze and drugs, created a voice that touched the world with hits such as "La Vie en Rose," "Milord" and "Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien." Somehow Olivier Dahan's impressionistic heartbreaker of a movie gets it all in. And Marion Cotillard, lip-syncing Piaf's songs and digging into her soul with gale-force urgency, gives a performance for the ages.

“Youth Knows No Pain”

“Like on 'Youth Knows No Pain' — we are the ones that should demonstrate, because we can take it,” Likke Li said. “We can pierce ourselves, take Ecstasy, dance all night and still go to work at our McDonald's jobs.” Despite the hedonistic sentiment in the song, the Swedish singer also admitted in hindsight her youth had repercussions. “I remember when I was 18-19 and feeling that I know it all,” Li said. “I always feel that I know it all. But that song is about realizing you don’t, and reflecting, ‘Boy, if I only knew what would follow.’”