Estrela Sem Luz

In this movie, the great French chanteuse Edith Piaf portrays a maid who's only happy when she sings sad songs,songs about pain..

It 's the end of the silent era .A star on the decline,Stella Dora,desperately tries to make her way in the talkies.Her manager and lover discovers Madeleine the maid and decides to use her voice.She will be Stella Dora's voice on the screen.Well you get the picture,it predates "singing in the rain " .

However,Marcel Blistène's movie is eminently worthy of investigation because:

-We can hear Piaf sing several songs written by her best songwriter Marguerite Monnot ."La chanson des pirates" is particularly exciting,and the final cut,sung on the stage of the music hall,which ends with haunting bells is thoroughly enthralling

-It's a cruel depiction of the showbiz without any indulgence:relatively speaking,outside Gene Kelly's musical,it predates some aspects of "all about Eve" (1950)

-The cast gathers some of the best actors of that era:Serge Reggiani,Jules Berry,Marcel Herrand,Yves Montand (debut):at the time ,the latter was Piaf's great love.

-And "étoile sans lumière" (star without light) ,what a well-chosen title!