This is a superb panoramic biography that covers the volatile performer's fascinating life from birth to death, hitting all the high points in between, and she is played to perfection by Marion Cotillard. Writer-director Olivier Dahan leaps back and forth in time to different stages in her life, but the narrative is clear and spellbinding.

Raised by her grandmother in, of all places, a brothel (some fleeting background upper nudity here), where the women adored her, and grieved for the child's sudden blindness, later giving thanks for the miraculous restoration of her sight (which Piaf credited ever after to St. Therese of Lisieux, to whom her guardians prayed).

Piaf's departure from the brothel when her street performer father (Jean-Paul Rouve) decides to raise her is wrenching, exemplified here by the maternal Titine's (Emmanuelle Seigner) hysteria at the impending separation from the child for whom she has come to care.

While apprenticing with her father, young Piaf wows the crowds with her powerful voice, eventually becoming a street singer in tandem with her pal Momome (Sylvie Testud).

She works under the protection of the mob, a sordid situation that ultimately leads to the murder of her mentor, nightclub owner Louis Leplee (Gerard Depardieu), seriously tainting her reputation, and almost ruining her budding career.

She survives, is molded as an artist by other professionals who take her under their wing, goes on to theatrical triumphs in Paris and New York, where she has a tragic affair with married championship boxer Marcel Cerdan (Jean-Pierre Martins), who is eventually killed in a plane crash while en route to see her. All of these events are beautifully re-created.

Cotillard, whose merely pleasant turn as Russell Crowe's love interest in last year's tepid comedy, "A Good Life," hardly presaged her stunning work here. Though lip-synching to Piaf's inimitable recordings, she gives an incredible performance morphing from foul-mouthed hoyden to vibrant star to frail wraith. Along with "La Vie En Rose," her other world-famous songs -- "Milord," "Hymn to Love," and "Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien" -- are all given good measure here.

The film shows Piaf to be highly mercurial: expansive and warm-hearted one moment, self-centered and tyrannical the next. Piaf's deep religious faith -- praying to St. Therese and Jesus before every performance -- is underscored, as are the far-from-saintly other aspects of her life, including the drug use and numerous affairs like the relationship with Cerdan. Earlier, there's a particularly unpleasant episode is the young Piaf's expletive-laden rejection of the mother who had abandoned her.

"I overdid it," says the ailing lady near the end of her life, with stunning economy. Despite this and other character flaws, Piaf's story powerfully demonstrates the resilience of the human spirit, and is a worthy tribute to one of the 20th century's great artists.

Subtitles.

The film contains upper female nudity, brothel scenes, adultery, a lesbian kiss, sexual references, a nongraphic encounter, some crude language and expressions, a violent though nongraphic car accident, child out of wedlock and substance abuse. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-III -- adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 -- parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

The classifications are as follows:

• A-I -- general patronage;
• A-II -- adults and adolescents;
• A-III -- adults;
• A-IV**
• L -- limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. L replaces the previous classification, A-IV.
• O -- morally offensive.