MY RESPECT HAS REACHED ANOTHER LEVEL
Celine Dion admits, ‘My voice was the conductor of my life,’ as she allows the cameras behind the scenes and shares the secret she’s been hiding for 17 years. Prime Video’s I Am: Celine Dion is one of those must-see documentaries that is compelling, heartbreaking and unforgettable. To all the world, the 56-year-old has it all: the voice, good looks, fame and money. But, staring into the lens, the French-canadian chokes up, as she reveals she’s finally ready to tell us her shocking story.
Over the next hour and 42 minutes, viewers are taken on a journey behind the stage. The global superstar is shown reduced to a tragic and tormented sufferer of a rare neurological disorder: stiff person syndrome (SPS). As a spasm sets in the camera doesn’t stop rolling. Celine is shown in terrible pain, twisting and contorting, crying, paralysed and unable to move her neck. As her fingers claw, I found my own knuckles were white. It’s hard to watch.
‘The lying is too heavy,’ she laments after having to invent excuses for cancelled shows. Scrapping the 2021 Sin City residency appears to have been a turning point, as she felt she owed an explanation to paying fans.
The documentary shows suffering, but it also shows remarkable strength. I have always been amazed that such a slender woman could create such a big voice. Similarly, her newly revealed frailty is combated with the same surprising force. ‘If I can’t run,
I’ll walk. If I can’t walk,
I’ll crawl... I won’t stop,’ she declares.
Celine has had to relearn how to move and how to sing. Throughout the film she works tirelessly, stretching and warming up her body and her voice. A better strategy than dependence on medication that she confesses nearly ruined her. ‘I don’t want to sound dramatic but I could have died.’
I loved seeing the ‘real’ Celine. Her music was the soundtrack to my youth. How many of us have tried to hit the money notes in Think Twice or The Power of Love? I hope she’ll be able to perform again one day. My respect for the Queen of the Power Ballad has just reached another level.