The film is structured as a largely non-linear series of key events from the life of
Édith Piaf. The film begins with elements from her childhood, and at the end with the events prior to and surrounding her death, poignantly juxtaposed by a performance of her song, "
Non, je ne regrette rien" (No, I do not Regret Anything). Beginning in 1918, young Édith suffers a chaotic childhood and is eventually sent to live with her paternal-grandmother, who runs a brothel in
Normandy. Édith witnesses the brutal business of
prostitution. When she suffers an episode of
keratitis-induced blindness, a kind-hearted
sex worker named Titine tenderly cares for Édith. Édith's
World War I veteran father collects her to accompany him while he works as a
circus acrobat. One night, Édith sees a vision of
St Thérèse in a
fire eater's flames. St Thérèse says she will always be with Édith—a belief that she carries for the rest of her life. When Édith is nine years old, her father leaves the circus and performs on the streets of
Paris. During a lackluster performance, a passerby asks if Édith is part of the show. She spontaneously sings "
La Marseillaise" with raw emotion, mesmerizing the street crowd. Years later,
nightclub owner
Louis Leplée hires Édith to sing at his club and gives her the stage
surname of Piaf, a
colloquialism for sparrow that is inspired by her diminutive height of only 1.47m (4 ft 8in). However, Leplée is soon shot dead and the police suspect it is due to Édith's connections to the mafia. When she next attempts a show at a
cabaret, she is jeered off the stage by a hostile crowd. Things go from bad to worse when her best friend, Mômone, is forcibly taken to a convent. Desperate, Édith turns to
Raymond Asso, a songwriter and accompanist. Through harsh means, he enlivens her stage presence with hand gestures, better enunciation, and other lessons. Édith's career progresses and she achieves fame. While performing in
New York City, Édith meets
Marcel Cerdan, a fellow French national and a
middleweight boxer competing for the World Champion title. Despite him being married, Édith believes she is falling in love with Marcel. An affair ensues and, while it is supposedly a secret, "" is played for Marcel wherever he goes. Édith persuades Marcel to fly from Paris to join her in New York, and he wakes her up in her bedroom with a kiss. She goes to get coffee and is informed by her entourage that Marcel was killed when his plane crashed. Édith hysterically searches for his ghost. The narrative bookends scenes from Édith's middle life with repeated vignettes. One set of memories shows Édith with short curly hair, singing on stage and collapsing. She develops
arthritis, as well as a severe
morphine addiction. Her husband,
Jacques Pills, persuades her to enter
drug rehabilitation, and she travels to
California with him. A now-sober but manic Édith drives around in a convertible while joking and teasing her compatriots. She drives into a
Joshua tree, but the hilarity continues as Édith gets out and pretends to hitchhike. Years later, an aged Édith is now frail and hunched. She squabbles with her entourage about whether or not she will be able to perform at
the Olympia.
Charles Dumont and
Michel Vaucaire offer her the composition, "Non, je ne regrette rien", which she loves and announces that she will perform it. Prior to what turns out to be her last performance, Édith asks for the
cross necklace that she always wears and her staff rush away to get it. She sits in quiet solitude and experiences memories of her past. After Édith puts on the retrieved cross and shuffles out onto the stage, more flashbacks are shown as she sings. Édith relives a sunny day on a beach while
knitting. She answers an interviewer's questions, during which she repeatedly encourages others to "Love." Édith's hard living and cancer has caused her to waste away at the age of 47. As she is tucked into bed, a subtitle reveals this is her last day alive. She is afraid and experiences a disjointed series of memories of small, yet defining moments—her mother commenting on her "wild eyes", her father giving her a doll, and thoughts of her own dead child, Marcelle. In a flashback, Édith performs "
Non, je ne regrette rien" at the Olympia. ==Cast==