I suspect everyone who has seen Marion Cotillard (“Big Fish,” “A Good Year”) as Edith Piaf in Friday’s art-house release “La Vie en Rose” is thinking about the awards potential of her sensational and gutsy performance. Roles in foreign-language films hardly ever get Oscar nominations, though, and I think Picturehouse is making a big mistake by releasing this heavy drama as summer counterprogramming. A December release would have had a reasonable shot at getting Cotillard some statues. Picturehouse evidently thinks that it can break the film out of the art-house ghetto, but this excellent movie will face a steep climb to crack even $10 million in box office.

Cotillard’s biggest problem, though, is a sudden expansion of great roles for women. In the mid-90s you could hardly find five movies each year with a juicy lead female role, but already this year Cotillard’s got competition from Julie Christie in “Away from Her” and maybe Angelina Jolie in “A Mighty Heart,” which I haven’t seen. There are lots more female-centered movies coming. Lou will review the movie in Friday’s Post, but my views of “La Vie en Rose” can be found on my blog, www.kylesmithonline.com.