Etoile sans Lumière

This would make a good double bill with Singin' in the Rain: same premise, opposite treatments. The setting is the dawn of the talkies, with Piaf playing the Debbie Reynolds part, an unknown brought in secretly to dub the unsatisfactory voice of a popular but obnoxious star of the silents. It's primarily a Piaf vehicle, her persona in the line of Giulietta Masina and Gracie Fields: sparky, resilient, endlessly put upon, always falling in love with unattainables (Reggiani as a kindly sound recordist). It's as gloomy overall as SITR is sunny, but Piaf's vanity gave rise to one twist: the role of the dull hometown sweetheart patiently waiting for this film business to blow over is taken by a young, extravagantly handsome Yves Montand.