A new documentary on Prime Video focuses on Celine Dion’s battle with stiff person syndrome
By Bob Tremblay/Boston Movie News
Full disclosure: I am a huge Celine Dion fan. I own many of her albums in French and English and have seen her in concert. My laudatory predisposition aside, it’s a safe bet that people who aren’t huge fans still appreciate her amazing voice.
And it’s that voice that has been muted and her career halted by a debilitating illness: stiff person syndrome. A neurological disorder that affects one in one million people, it’s characterized by muscle rigidity and spasms, which can be severe and affect much of the body.
The singer’s battle with the disease is chronicled in the pull-no-punches documentary “I Am: Celine Dion.” Directed by Irene Taylor, the film is as far from a vanity project as possible. One 10-minute scene, in particular, is gut-wrenching as it shows 56-year-old Dion suffering a seizure. Tears fall as she groans in pain while she receives treatment. Dion insisted the scene be kept in the film. It shows that a superstar can be as vulnerable as anybody.
The film isn’t all about agony; it shows Dion performing in concert and interacting with her family at her home in Las Vegas. She gives a tour of the warehouse where she stores her many outfits and shoes. (Lots of shoes). She even does an impressive imitation of Sia on the late-night talk show “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”
But the powerhouse voice launched her career, and seeing it derailed like this proves that the gods have a mean streak. Yet the film is a tribute to Dion’s resilience as she refuses to let the illness, which has even prevented her from walking sometimes, keep her down. She intends to return to the stage eventually.
Dion, the youngest of 14 children, began singing early and eventually caught the eye of music manager Rene Angelil. He mortgaged his home to fund her first record, “La voix du bon Dieu” (“The Good Lord’s Voice”). The song became a No. 1 hit, making her a star in her native Quebec at 13. Dion married Angélil, who was 26 years her senior, in 1994. He died in 2016.
While the film shows bits of her early life, it could have shown more. What drove her to such stratospheric success? Also, the film doesn’t translate what Dion says in French in certain scenes. Either that or the film was formatted incorrectly at the screening I attended, and the subtitles were blocked out.
These are minor criticisms. The film serves as a love letter—make that a love novella—to her fans and an example of incredible perseverance to anyone who has suffered or witnessed someone dealing with a severe illness.
I don’t want to get too schmaltzy here, but after watching this film, one might be tempted to retitle Dion’s greatest hit, “My Spirit Will Go On.”
‘I Am: Celine Dion’
Rating: PG for thematic material and brief smoking images
Cast: Celine Dion
Director: Irene Taylor
Running time: 102 minutes
Where to watch: Streaming on Amazon Prime Video
Grade: A
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