No Regrets - Carolyn Burke [122]
Though less grand than Cocteau’s villa, La Serena was not lacking in distinction. The twenty-room house, which had gardens, a swimming pool, and a view of the sea, also came with a staff. Théo’s family came for an extended visit; Suzanne made sure that meals were available at all hours. Soon many of Edith’s acquaintances also showed up to enjoy her hospitality and sample the luxurious local lifestyle chronicled in Paris Match.
By mid-June, she had recovered sufficiently to start rehearsing, her voice having regained its strength and timbre. Piaf’s spirits were high when Vassal and Noli visited, even though she was restricted to a diet of noodles and boiled fish for the sake of her foie. (Edith’s liver barely functioned, Margantin explained: her doctors warned that the slightest excess would send her back into a coma.) Still, she posed for Vassal, picking flowers in the garden, watching Théo in the pool, and pretending to play Ping-Pong.
When a new inmate of La Serena urged Edith to enjoy herself as he was doing, she indulged in rich dishes that had exactly the effect Margantin was trying to prevent. On June 20, she went into a coma that lasted eight days, enough time for the hangers-on to decamp. On Piaf’s return from the hospital, she asked to see her friends. Those who rushed to her side—Bourgeat, Emer, Contet, Dumont, and Asso, whom she helped financially—all feared that their visits might be the last. Cocteau telephoned regularly from his château outside Paris. Denise Gassion appeared unexpectedly but was sent away after she too asked for money. Aznavour visited often, on one occasion performing Russian dance steps to amuse Piaf and offering her financial help, since Barrier had canceled her engagements, including the Broadway musical. To boost Edith’s morale, the household put on a show for Bastille Day. Marching into her bedroom with saucepans on their heads, they clanged the lids and sang “La Marseillaise.” She roused herself to sing an old favorite, the nose-thumbing Montmartre tune “Nini peau de chien.”
Their euphoria did not last long. Margantin told Noli that the next time he came they would be in a smaller house with no room for hangers-on: “The doctors … said quite clearly that if she made it through the next six months without going into a coma, she might survive. But if she relapsed, it was hopeless.” Projecting her fears onto Théo, Edith watched over him with maternal solicitude. He must not swim in the sea (to keep from drowning); he must avoid the local temptations—drink, drugs, fast cars, gambling—indulged in by the younger generation of stars. To this end, she rented film after film to show at home while he sat by her side.
In August, Edith, Théo, and their inner circle moved to La Gatounière, a rental property near Mougins. There she kept to her diet, strolled in the garden on Théo’s arm, sipped iced tea under a parasol, and talked of the future. She would have liked to perform in The Threepenny Opera, she told the Bonels, but when she sang for them, they saw that her memory was failing. During an impromptu call by Noli and Vassal (in the area for an article on Hallyday), she spoke only a few words at a time. “I had the impression that she had ceased to think about new projects,” Noli noted. Only Théo’s plans were of interest. Since he would soon go to Paris to act in a remake of the silent film classic Judex, Piaf asked Noli to write about his role: “People don’t like him,” she said.