\n<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen a girl loves her shoes, she always<\/em> makes them fit,\u201d Dion says, imparting the wisdom of a true diva. \u201cEvery time I went to a store and I loved the shoes they said, \u2018What size are you, ma\u2019am?\u2019 I said, \u2018No, you don\u2019t understand, what size do you have<\/em>? I\u2019ll make them work, I\u2019ll make them fit.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s a hilarious moment, but it\u2019s also bittersweet. Again, there is that sense of self-sacrifice \u2014 the insistence that even in the face of discomfort the show (and the shoe) must go on. As she walks among her old stage clothes, delighting in the minute details of craftsmanship, the joy Dion gets from performing is palpable, but so is the anxiety that she may never know that particular kind of release again.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you record, it sounds great,\u201d Dion says in the film. \u201cBut when you are onstage, it will be greater.\u201d What becomes clear \u2014 throughout many montages of Dion singing live, feeding off the energy of her audience \u2014 is that performing is her lifeblood, and the stage has always been the place where she can be her most quintessential self. And so she is putting the full force of her tenacity and self-discipline toward building her strength back, in hopes that she can someday return.<\/p>\n That is, however, a herculean task. Toward the end of the documentary, during a physical therapy session, Taylor\u2019s cameras continue to roll while Dion experiences a severe attack of full-body spasms; her face is frozen in pain, her limbs stiffen and the only sounds she can make are awful moans. For an artist who has long valued the control she has over her body and the instrument of her voice, this level of candor is particularly striking.<\/p>\n Just as difficult to watch is the sequence that precedes it, which finds Dion in a recording studio struggling to sing the relatively muted ballad, \u201cLove Again.\u201d Her vocal cords constrict \u2014 she compares the spasms to an unseen hand choking her \u2014 and that once mighty voice comes out in a whisper. Ever the perfectionist, she winces listening to the playback.<\/p>\n In the film, Dion compares herself to an apple tree, proud of doling out the shiniest fruit for her fans. \u201cI don\u2019t want them to wait in line if I don\u2019t have apples for them,\u201d she says. She still does, though. Dion\u2019s voice may no longer be the precise instrument she nurtured for decades, but \u201cI Am: Celine Dion\u201d shows that hitting those stratospheric high notes is not her only method of inspiration. There is strength, too, in sharing the bitter fruit of her struggles, and throughout them remaining gloriously, consistently herself.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n