Amazon Prime Video, Dave Platel, Denis Savage, documentaries, Eddy Angelil, I Am Celine Dion, movies, music, Nelson Angelil, Prime Video, Rene-Charles Angelil, reviews, TV
January 7, 2025
by Carla Hay
Directed by Irene Taylor
Culture Representation: The documentary film “I Am: Celine Dion” (filmed in 2023) features an all-white group of people discussing the life and career of French Canadian superstar singer Celine Dion.
Culture Clash: Dion has personal struggles and uncertainty about her career after she is diagnosed with stiff person syndrome.
Culture Audience: “I Am: Celine Dion” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of Dion and people interested in watching documentaries about how celebrities deal with health problems.
“I Am: Celine Dion” can be commended for how Celine Dion openly shares what her life was like shortly after being diagnosed with stiff person syndrome. However, this documentary did not need so many “greatest hits” archival clips as interruptions. These archival clips are edited into the movie in ways that seem like distractions and filler to stretch out the length of the film. Without these archival clips, there’s barely enough new footage for a feature-length film.
Directed by Irene Taylor, “I Am: Celine Dion” (filmed in 2023) has a format that constantly switches back and forth between the footage filmed exclusively for the documentary and the archival footage, usually a music video or a live performance that has already been widely seen. Just when things get interesting with the new footage, the movie then abruptly segues to the archival footage. People watching this documentary don’t need these constant archival reminders to show why Dion is famous. The expected hits are featured, including “My Heart Will Go On,” “The Power of Love,” “All by Myself” and “Because You Loved Me.”
The footage that was filmed exclusively for the documentary shows Dion mostly at her home in her native Québec, as she begins her recovery and rehabilitation for stiff person syndrome, a rare autoimmune neurological disorder that causes muscle stiffness, spasms and seizures. “I Am: Celine Dion” notoriously includes Dion having a seizure on camera during a medical appointment. This clip was widely shown before the documentary became available, so anyone who saw this clip before seeing the documentary won’t be as shocked as those who never saw this footage.
Aside from this revealing footage of Dion having a seizure, ” Am: Celine Dion” shows her having other moments of vulnerability. She says of the part of her recovery that is not in the documentary: “It got to a point where I couldn’t walk anymore … A lot of pain. And I can’t use my [singing] voice yet.
Dion also wonders aloud if stiff person syndrome will rob her of her greatest joy as a singer: performing in front of a live audience. She comments, “Music, I miss it a lot. But also: people. I miss them.
Dion adds, Before got SPS, my voice was the conductor of my life. I was okay with that because I was having a great time. When your voice brings you joy, you’re the best of yourself.”
During this period of recovery, the documentary shows that Dion kept a small circle of people around her. Those in her inner circle include her three sons: René-Charles (born in 2001) and fraternal twins Eddy and Nelson (born in 2010), from her marriage to her late husband/manager René Angélil, who died of throat cancer in 2016. Also seen in the documentary are Dion’s co-managers Dave Platel and Denis Savage.
As candid as the documentary is, Dion still seems a little guarded because she’s aware she’s being filmed. In the documentary’s first scene, her twin sons Eddy and Nelson ask her: “What’s your favorite color?” Dion replies: “That’s a hard question to answer.” She is then asked, “If you could be anywhere, where would you be?” Dion answers, “Will you believe me if I tell you that I’ve traveled the world, and I didn’t really see anything?”
“I Am: Celine Dion”—just like many other celebrity documentaries that are sanctioned by the celebrity or celebrity’s estate—presents the celebrity in the way that the celebrity probably wants to be presented. Dion is not depicted as perfect (her sadness and vulnerability are on full display), and she certainly didn’t do this documentary to get pity because of her medical condition. However, it seems a little fake that Dion is never seen getting angry or showing any personality flaws that would make her more relatable as a human being. How she’s dealing with her diagnosis is certainly admirable, but “I Am: Celine Dion” still gives the impression that the entire story isn’t told in this documentary.
Amazon MGM Studios released “I Am: Celine Dion” select U.S. cinemas on June 21, 2024. Prime Video premiered the movie on June 25, 2024.