Aline, the film by Valérie Lemercier loosely inspired by Celine Dion, was a great success in France, but received a less brilliant reception in Quebec. He raked in $ 166,000 in revenue on his first weekend on the bill, ranking him third behind two US productions: Encanto and Ghostbusters: Afterlife, released 10 days ago.
These figures are however to be qualified: the films which occupy the first and second positions made only $ 243,000 and $ 241,000 at the Quebec box office last weekend. The receipts of the last weekend are therefore generally unspectacular. To compare, Dune, by Denis Villeneuve, ranked fifth with nearly $ 160,000, had made over $ 1 million in his first weekend on the screens at the end of October.
“Would we have liked more? The market is very low this weekend, but we are the first Quebec film, underlines André Rouleau, of Caramel Films, co-producer ofAline. We would have liked more, obviously, but what is encouraging is that we received the figures today and we are more or less number one in all theaters in Quebec. It’s very, very encouraging. ”
In France, Aline does very well. It was seen by more than half a million people on the weekend of its release across the Atlantic, which took place on November 10, and has since exceeded one million admissions. It is one of the best performances of the year there, and it is shaping up to be one of the great French successes of 2021.
The output ofAline in Quebec, November 25, was marked by the critics of Claudette and Michel Dion, brother and sister of Celine, who made an exit to the show The week of 4 Julie deploring among other things to pass for “a gang of Bougons”. Robert Charlebois, guest on the set of Everybody talks about it Sunday, however, defended the film, judging that it had been made with respect.
Without expanding on the subject, André Rouleau temporizes the criticisms of the two members of the Dion family. “That’s not at all what we got as feedback from family and people close to the family,” he says. The producer insists that the feedback from audiences and critics is overwhelmingly positive and believes word of mouth will do its work. “Those who have seen the film love it,” he concludes, “so we think we’ll do even better next week. ”
Valérie Lemercier, principal performer and director, was inspired by Céline Dion for Aline, but she assumes the liberties she has taken with reality. “It’s cinema. It’s not documentary; it is a fiction. It is said at the beginning of the film: there are things which are not true, which are of the order of the imagination ”, she affirmed to Press, in response to criticism from members of the star’s family.