\n<\/p>\n
Illness shows no regard for even the most revered figures in pop music.<\/p>\n
In \u201cI Am: Celine Dion,\u201d a documentary about the global songstress on Amazon Prime Video, it quickly becomes clear that Dion can\u2019t even move her body, let alone deliver a soaring ballad with the full force that, from her teenage years on, roused millions. The film, by the director Irene Taylor, records the singer\u2019s agonizing reality as she battles the rare neurological condition called stiff person syndrome<\/a>.<\/p>\n In an Instagram post<\/a> in December 2022, Dion tearfully revealed her diagnosis to her fans, but the documentary had already been in production by then. Taylor opens the film with relaxed scenes of Dion at her home in Las Vegas with her children and staff. Then the part that\u2019s painful to watch: The singer is heard moaning as she has a seizure on the floor. Learning early on that she had always wanted to sing \u201call my life\u201d intensifies the tragedy of watching Dion, now 56, struggle to continue to live that dream. Dion\u2019s voice made her a star; this film is keen on making her a person.<\/p>\n But there is nothing subtle in Taylor\u2019s montages, such as a high-energy past performance cut with the subdued domestic energy on display while Dion is vacuuming her couch. One shot pans to her eerily empty living room, a severe departure from playing packed stadiums. Even the score aches. All this palpable sadness is, perhaps, why Taylor interjects clips of Dion in better times.<\/p>\n I understand the inclination to not define Dion by her diagnosis. But Dion\u2019s spontaneously expressive personality already shines through her pain in raw footage that feels more connected to her healing journey, like when her physical therapist nags her about a cream she hasn\u2019t been applying to her feet. \u201cGive me a break,\u201d she says with playful exasperation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n She then sings \u201cGimme a Break,\u201d the Kit Kat<\/a> commercial jingle. While that welcome touch of humor pulls you into this intimately told story \u2014 what\u2019s more Celine than an impromptu vocal? \u2014 inconsequential clips take you out of it: her impersonation of Sia on a late-night talk show; a part of her \u201cAshes\u201d video<\/a> that lets the Deadpool cameo go on for too long; her career-defining ballad \u201cMy Heart Will Go On\u201d but, mystifyingly, the \u201cCarpool Karaoke<\/a>\u201d version with James Corden.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n These awkward segments weaken the powerful emotional atmosphere of witnessing Dion transcend her circumstances. Especially when she lets the cameras stick around, showing some of the most grim health-related scenes I have ever seen of a superstar onscreen.<\/p>\n \u201cI think I was very good,\u201d Dion says about her career. After seeing a sequined costume of hers hung up at her home, the \u201cwas\u201d is crushingly honest. But when she sings during a studio session, she still is<\/em> very good. A final shot shows her as a starry-eyed teenager gazing up at the stage lights. It\u2019s as if her younger self has something to say all these years later: That, if not now, it may all come back to her soon.<\/p>\n I Am: Celine Dion<\/strong>
Rated PG. Running time: 1 hour 42 minutes. Watch on Prime Video<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n