We can find thatAline by Valérie Lemercier has the allure of a TV movie, that the patronymic Dieu instead of Dion sounds grandiloquent, that the French filmmaker-performer has trouble with her accent and that the Quebec distribution makes sparks. Still, this good-natured and unequal film remains a fiction freely inspired by the life of Charlemagne’s diva. Valérie Lemercier looked at her idol with a look of benevolence, being careful not to irritate her in case she deigned to see her one day. biopic. The managerial husband’s gambling addiction is avoided, like the other faults of the male hero. We are swimming in the middle of a fairy tale.
The fantasized vision of a Frenchwoman of a star from another culture carries its share of risks. Each people builds clichés on the backs of others. To be or not to be credible… that is the question. However, everything was going like clockwork in France for Aline. Ovation in Cannes in July, a strong start with 600,000 admissions in France after a week of operation (but strong fallout thereafter), Quebec press broadly positive.
The real test was elsewhere. At the Montreal premiere ofAline Tuesday, Michel and Claudette Dion, brother and sister of Celine, exhausted the film at the microphone of Julie Snyder. The distorting mirror effect disturbs his siblings. They do not find their childhood home in this cabin in Canada, Lemercier’s Quebec accent makes them sweat, Céline sees herself drawn in too caricature. Factual errors are said to be plentiful. Their mother would never have spoken in this tone to René Angélil, alias Guy-Claude Kamar. We go by and more green. Lemercier, injured, refused in front of the media to apologize for this film, which she defends vigorously.
The filmmaker admitted from the start to have fictionalized episodes. By changing the singer’s name, she chose to distance herself from it … while draping herself in it. It is human, for those close to them, to rise up in front of an offbeat image of reality, but artistic freedom certainly takes precedence. The filmmaker has exercised it, playing both ways. It’s up to her to cash in on grunts while retaining her right to creation. Aline was conceived without the collaboration of Celine Dion, nor its ban. Reality and fiction do not always go hand in hand. Known air.
Always delicate to stage, by pasticating them, living people. The fictitious side is a slap in the face for models, even in literature. And Quebeckers do not like to come across as rednecks in front of the French. When made to pronounce “Votican” rather than “Vatican”, the clan sees red. Must say that the Dion family is on edge. The famous sister is struggling.
Aline comes out at a funny time. Effects of advertising or counter-advertising in communicating vessels, the health problems of the Quebec diva which prevent her from singing in Las Vegas could push the public to want to find her in the cinema… or not. So many shocking titles have been playing on repeat lately, such as “The end of his career! “Or” Celine at worst! “. Even the most indifferent (I am) know its setbacks. And if all these Cassandras were right, a bio melee of fiction in the cinema could prevail over the reality of his life, yet documented for decades. Unless the outraged reaction of his siblings empties rooms, in Quebec at least. The film owns a US distributor, Roadside Attractions / Samuel Goldwyn Films, with a release slated for early 2022, but Celine’s star is less shining there than if she were showing in Sin City.
Do mega-shuttles really belong to each other? Thrown to their fans and their detractors, they see their careers follow a fluctuating course like on the stock market. In case of failure, here they are likely to bring to their knees a producer who relies on his diva for postpandemic renewal.
For a few weeks now, Celine Dion’s family has been trying to calm the media pompom, by playing down the star’s medical condition. In vain. Usually, the Quebec singer offers fans of gossip little bone to chew on: no alcohol or drugs, faithful to her missing husband, allergic to the disillusioned fauna of the American star-system. “People” sites invented a link for him here and there … His state of health remains.
Megavedettes, beyond their talent, have a commercial label engraved in their legend, thus filling up a huge industry. They are real artistic machines without the right to jam. Otherwise, the horde of addicts loses its feathers. The film Aline adds a layer to the confusion surrounding a weakened artist. This is what Celine Dion’s family digests perhaps the least. And if this film fell especially badly in his life …