"I Am: Celine Dion" documentary - Official Topic

[idroveallnight]

https://www.instagra...zYwMmhrODZ0dW9p

 

Céline singing Courage with a fan!

 

this is me haha

[scielle]

Interview with Irene. Some spoilers, but I don’t think it’s really anything we don’t already know from Celine interviews last week -

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“I did not show the film to Celine until it was done and the first thing she said to me was, ‘I think this film will help me’ and after a pause, ‘Don’t cut anything away from that scene.’ I think she felt validated and said, ‘Now people will understand.’”

 

Edited June 19, 2024 at 12:02 PM by scielle

[ewh12]

 

 

I thought it was home back from the studio.

 

Wait wasn’t it the Summerlin house? I remember seeing a bowling alley.

[jpatdeleon09]

Was this recent? She looks great here like her eyelids are lift. Like less droopy

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/C8YlujBgors/?igsh=aDVqcTNodWtsdjF1

Edited June 19, 2024 at 01:01 PM by jpatdeleon09

[isurrender]

The complexity of Celine Dion, and the complexity of Show business at this level.

We thought that Celine was different, couldn't be Whitney or Jackson and many others. But the Show must go on mantra isolates and kills, whoever you are it seems. And we hear her mentioning that, going to this conclusion after what she lived, that this Show must go on mantra was her main mistake, and at the same time I still hear her saying presently: The show must go on. No it doesn't have to, at least not in the same form, please.

 

I'm struck to read that during her crisis, her impresario was on the phone with her doctor. WTF ? Why her impresario ? Is cetainly a good guy that's not the question, but where are the true persons taking care of her, the family, relatives, friends ? Where is Linda ?

Is that so difficult to have friends at this stardom level ? How can she be so praised for being that kind, sincere and closed to people and at the same time being so alone, with for example no personal links with people in her own band with whom she worked with for more than 15/20 years?

 

I'm more struck with what I read on this board, tbh.

 

Millions of people are dying alone. Loneliness is not something specific to show business. It might seems so because you put a microscope on a specific life.

 

People don't usually share their medication to others, why would it be different for Céline? Especially in this case.. I truly don't understand what people are thinking? .. that just before the show begins she would have told to Barnev ( for example) " Hey! Good luck for tonight! Oh and by the way I've just had a bottle of valium"?

 

Céline has alway been alone, with no friends, with no social life. Sorry to say but in 4 decades, how many times has she been spotted hanging out with a friend, in a restaurant, doing shopping, etc...(like any other star)?

And we are the ones who scrutinize all of her moves..

So if anyone hasn't noticed she was alone all this time, there's also a problem with us.

 

Also, geographically speaking, beside Linda ( and maybe Michel?), all of her family is not around. It's been like this for a lifetime...why is so shocking now? Would anyone expect a sister/brother to leave his life behind and move to another country?

And what would it change in case of a crisis? Are her siblings able to bring anyone back to life?

Why not her impresario? I don't get it..are crisis predictable so that at these moments, specific people should be around?

 

Finally, Céline being Céline , she kepts repeating all over the same stuff but still I'm always surprised by people who don't understand : she lied, she shut anyone out , she didn't go out for years, she didn't want anyone around and now she changed so "please share your dark times with your loved ones".

 

Since she has been "back" and sharing what she has been through, many many many comments here started ( and sometimes only focused on that) with "Oh I don't like her hair, Oh her make up is bad" instead of what she was saying or lived.

That's more shocking than her impresario being with her.

At least, he was with her and helped the way he could.

[scielle]

Does anyone know how folks got tickets to the NYC premiere? It seemed like members of the public were seated next to celebrity guests and other hosted attendees?

 

p.s. it seems all the influencers who were paid to go were paid just to post their outfits from the red carpet and make one IG story afterwards lol...easy gig for them

 

I first signed up through Amazon Screenings, but then the morning of, I also emailed the address that was posted here early in the day about the "Fan Pen". I'm certainly no influencer, barely even have any social media presence at all, but they emailed me back later in the day to confirm. (I think maybe because I emailed from my work address, which is at a music label, and my signature has my LinkedIn in it, and they deemed it good enough? I truly don't know!)

 

I don't think most people in that fan pen were random influencers. Everyone around me genuinely seemed like a giant Celine fan. We were all in a small "pen" on the side of the "red carpet" where all the media were. Celine came in on the other side, so we barely saw her when all the photographers were snapping away, when she showed at about 7:15. And then she very generously spent a good 45 min talking to all the reporter. During all this time, we could only really see the back of her head... there was a giant cement pillar in the middle! But I did have a very good view or RC the entire time, who was two steps behind her at all times, and it was just so lovely to see.

 

A couple times, security guards came by to tell us "no shouting, no screaming, if you shout you'll be escorted out". And of course we really took that to heart, worried we're going to set her off. But we were all screaming on the inside!

 

Anyway, she finally came over to us around 8 or 8:15 I think. Really took her time, chatted with people, sang a bit, took some selfies. Not everyone was front row and got time with her, of course, but I was just glad to see her well and happy to interact with fans. Someone in the media wrote that the we treated her with "almost religious reverence" and it definitely felt that way, but I think that's mostly because we were all so worried we're going to over-stimulate her! So everyone was really calm and respectful, no pushing, no elbowing.

 

I was towards the back but still ended up with a signed poster, and I wasn't even trying hard at all. She just noticed me standing there behind some people and said something like "oh sorry, didn't get yours yet". She just has a sixth sense for these things, seriously. Like, she can fully engage and be totally present with whoever she's talking to, but then simultaneously be so fully aware of everyone else around. It's one of the things I've always really admired about her, the off-the-charts EQ.

There was a girl in front of me whose mom just died, and she told Celine, and of course Celine spent a long moment speaking with and consoling her. It was really special but also not surprising at all because that's the genuine, empathetic Celine we know and love.

So yes, she was lovely, and very obviously so happy to have us there. But you could also see, from close up, how much the last few years took a toll on her.

 

She took her sweet time, of course, which is why the screening started so late. John Nelson started urging her along at one point ("You know there's a movies screening about you next door, right?) After she was done, we were all sent to the front row of the there. Like, right there, next to the stage. The closest I'll probably ever get to Celine & her mic!

 

I loved what she had to say and it was really special to be there with her in that moment. I'm so glad she acknowledged Dr. Piquet, and brought her out again at the end of the screening. Loved seeing RC right there all along.

 

At the end, some tech started brining out speakers and a mic... some of us in the front row thought "OMG is she going to sing?! They told us to stay for after the credits!" But they struck that equipment as soon as it started to come out, and I guess it must have been for the aborted Q&A. (Which I think was simply because they were running late. It was clearly an overwhelming night for Celine, but she seemed OK when she was with us 2 hours earlier so I don't think it was scrapped because of her her wellbeing.)

Edited June 19, 2024 at 01:15 PM by scielle

[Céline RO]

Was this recent? She looks great here like her eyelids are lift. Like less droopy

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/C8YlujBgors/?igsh=aDVqcTNodWtsdjF1

 

2022 or early 2023 I believe. She recorded for a John Farnham documentary on the same day.

 

[scielle]

Since she has been "back" and sharing what she has been through, many many many comments here started ( and sometimes only focused on that) with "Oh I don't like her hair, Oh her make up is bad" instead of what she was saying or lived.

Yes! Thank you for saying that. It just bothers me so much, every time. Can we please consider what this woman has been through? Perhaps her bun is not her biggest concern at the moment.

[Nmj]

 

 

I first signed up through Amazon Screenings, but then the morning of, I also emailed the address that was posted here early in the day about the "Fan Pen". I'm certainly no influencer, barely even have any social media presence at all, but they emailed me back later in the day to confirm. (I think maybe because I emailed from my work address, which is at a music label, and my signature has my LinkedIn in it, and they deemed it good enough? I truly don't know!)

 

I don't think most people in that fan pen were random influencers. Everyone around me genuinely seemed like a giant Celine fan. We were all in a small "pen" on the side of the "red carpet" where all the media were. Celine came in on the other side, so we barely saw her when all the photographers were snapping away, when she showed at about 7:15. And then she very generously spent a good 45 min talking to all the reporter. During all this time, we could only really see the back of her head... there was a giant cement pillar in the middle! But I did have a very good view or RC the entire time, who was two steps behind her at all times, and it was just so lovely to see.

 

A couple times, security guards came by to tell us "no shouting, no screaming, if you shout you'll be escorted out". And of course we really took that to heart, worried we're going to set her off. But we were all screaming on the inside!

 

Anyway, she finally came over to us around 8 or 8:15 I think. Really took her time, chatted with people, sang a bit, took some selfies. Not everyone was front row and got time with her, of course, but I was just glad to see her well and happy to interact with fans. Someone in the media wrote that the we treated her with "almost religious reverence" and it definitely felt that way, but I think that's mostly because we were all so worried we're going to over-stimulate her! So everyone was really calm and respectful, no pushing, no elbowing.

 

I was towards the back but still ended up with a signed poster, and I wasn't even trying hard at all. She just noticed me standing there behind some people and said something like "oh sorry, didn't get yours yet". She just has a sixth sense for these things, seriously. Like, she can fully engage and be totally present with whoever she's talking to, but then simultaneously be so fully aware of everyone else around. It's one of the things I've always really admired about her, the off-the-charts EQ.

There was a girl in front of me whose mom just died, and she told Celine, and of course Celine spent a long moment speaking with and consoling her. It was really special but also not surprising at all because that's the genuine, empathetic Celine we know and love.

So yes, she was lovely, and very obviously so happy to have us there. But you could also see, from close up, how much the last few years took a toll on her.

 

She took her sweet time, of course, which is why the screening started so late. John Nelson started urging her along at one point ("You know there's a movies screening about you next door, right?) After she was done, we were all sent to the front row of the there. Like, right there, next to the stage. The closest I'll probably ever get to Celine & her mic!

 

I loved what she had to say and it was really special to be there with her in that moment. I'm so glad she acknowledged Dr. Piquet, and brought her out again at the end of the screening. Loved seeing RC right there all along.

 

At the end, some tech started brining out speakers and a mic... some of us in the front row thought "OMG is she going to sing?! They told us to stay for after the credits!" But they struck that equipment as soon as it started to come out, and I guess it must have been for the aborted Q&A. (Which I think was simply because they were running late. It was clearly an overwhelming night for Celine, but she seemed OK when she was with us 2 hours earlier so I don't think it was scrapped because of her her wellbeing.)

 

What a beautiful experience you had. Very happy for you.

 

It’s sad they didn’t get the Q/A in there as it would’ve been great to see, but I’m wondering if they feel as if the film speaks for itself and that Celine and Irene answered a lot of questions, prior on the red carpet?

[jpatdeleon09]

 

 

2022 or early 2023 I believe. She recorded for a John Farnham documentary on the same day.

 

 

Wow! You’re amazing!

[Ajax]

I'm more struck with what I read on this board, tbh.

 

Millions of people are dying alone. Loneliness is not something specific to show business. It might seems so because you put a microscope on a specific life.

 

People don't usually share their medication to others, why would it be different for Céline? Especially in this case.. I truly don't understand what people are thinking? .. that just before the show begins she would have told to Barnev ( for example) " Hey! Good luck for tonight! Oh and by the way I've just had a bottle of valium"?

 

Céline has alway been alone, with no friends, with no social life. Sorry to say but in 4 decades, how many times has she been spotted hanging out with a friend, in a restaurant, doing shopping, etc...(like any other star)?

And we are the ones who scrutinize all of her moves..

So if anyone hasn't noticed she was alone all this time, there's also a problem with us.

 

Also, geographically speaking, beside Linda ( and maybe Michel?), all of her family is not around. It's been like this for a lifetime...why is so shocking now? Would anyone expect a sister/brother to leave his life behind and move to another country?

And what would it change in case of a crisis? Are her siblings able to bring anyone back to life?

Why not her impresario? I don't get it..are crisis predictable so that at these moments, specific people should be around?

 

Finally, Céline being Céline , she kepts repeating all over the same stuff but still I'm always surprised by people who don't understand : she lied, she shut anyone out , she didn't go out for years, she didn't want anyone around and now she changed so "please share your dark times with your loved ones".

 

Since she has been "back" and sharing what she has been through, many many many comments here started ( and sometimes only focused on that) with "Oh I don't like her hair, Oh her make up is bad" instead of what she was saying or lived.

That's more shocking than her impresario being with her.

At least, he was with her and helped the way he could.

 

Haha, Good to read you same old ISurrender

of course she doesn't have the monopoly on loneliness. It is often described and discussed in reference to the amount of love famous people receive from unknowns in regards to their loneliness in private, mainly because their status prevent her from sincere friendships. That's enough to be discussed as it often leads to dramatic situations. What can interpellate a bit more in the case of Celine is how friendly and sociable she looks.

This is all. An this is true this is not totally a surprise.

 

Concerning her impresario, as I though she had the crisis at home, I found it a bit sad it wasn't a relative. But yeah you're right about the unpredictability of it.

[scielle]

Oh and also, another thing I wanted to say about Monday - I now understand why they chose to not premiere the film at a festival. And why Irene said in her intro that they "kept it very close to the vest".

This film really is "a love letter to fans" and I think it was important to Celine that the first screening be for them. Not a bunch of entertainment reporters at Cannes or some other festival, who had a schedule of 5 films to get through that day and file reviews about, and a bunch of A-listers more concerned with how they look on the red carpet and who they rub shoulders with. It just wouldn't have been fitting for what the film is.

[idroveallnight]

Oh and also, another thing I wanted to say about Monday - I now understand why they chose to not premiere the film at a festival. And why Irene said in her intro that they "kept it very close to the vest".

This film really is "a love letter to fans" and I think it was important to Celine that the first screening be for them. Not a bunch of entertainment reporters at Cannes or some other festival, who had a schedule of 5 films to get through that day and file reviews about, and a bunch of A-listers more concerned with how they look on the red carpet and who they rub shoulders with. It just wouldn't have been fitting for what the film is.

 

so well said! I didn’t realize you were there! Would have loved to meet you!

[bilinkew]

Deleted, Sorry! Edited June 19, 2024 at 02:38 PM by bilinkew

[bilinkew]

Deleted, Sorry! Edited June 19, 2024 at 02:38 PM by bilinkew

[scielle]

Some amazing reviews of the movie here in the UK .

See the Spoilers thread for a running collection of reviews - we've been posting them there out of consideration for those who are yet to see it.

Edited June 19, 2024 at 02:35 PM by scielle

[scielle]

A great interview with Irene from her local paper. Posting in full because it tells us a lot about how this film came about; I don't think any spoilers that you wouldn't already know about from Celine's interviews.

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"Portland’s Irene Taylor on directing ‘I Am: Celine Dion,’ a powerful portrait of the singer

 

When Irene Taylor agreed to make a documentary film about the internationally famous singer Celine Dion, she initially thought she would be filming Dion performing on tour. But instead, Taylor soon learned what “most of the world knows now, that she had been unwell.”

 

“I didn’t know that, because she had not been public about it at that point,” the Portland-based Taylor said in a recent phone interview. It wasn’t until Taylor started to get to know Dion that she learned what only a few people close to the singer and involved in her treatment realized, which was that Dion “had been suffering for years.”

 

Though most viewers haven’t yet had a chance to watch it, “I Am: Celine Dion,” the feature-length documentary Taylor directed, has already been making news for Dion’s willingness to open up about her struggles with stiff person syndrome, a rare neurological disorder whose symptoms include muscle spasms.

 

While the film presents an intimate, sometimes devastating portrait of Dion and how the illness has impacted her life, her powerful voice, and her ability to perform, that wasn’t what Taylor originally set out to do.

 

When filming started, “She didn’t have a diagnosis yet,” Taylor said. Dion didn’t make a public statement about being diagnosed with stiff person syndrome until December 2022.

 

“It’s not like I knew I wanted to make a story about Celine being sick,” Taylor said. “The story revealed itself.”

 

Taylor’s previous films have earned her acclaim, an Oscar nomination, and won Emmy, duPont-Columbia and Peabody awards. Her subjects have sometimes been personal, as with “Hear and Now,” and “Moonlight Sonata: Deafness in Three Movements,” which explored the experiences of members of her family who are deaf.

 

Other of Taylor’s works delve into social issues, as with “Leave No Trace: A Hidden History of the Boy Scouts,” an investigation of a decades-long scandal involving sexual abuse cases covered up by the Boy Scouts of America.

 

“I Am: Celine Dion” is, Taylor said, “Nothing like anything I’ve ever made, because I was so focused on telling the story about her. She told me very early on, I do not want other people in the film talking about me, that’s the only thing I ask of you. She just said, will you let me tell my story. And she thought she was asking me to do her a favor by not going out and having people opine about her. And I said, oh my goodness, this is music to my ears as a storyteller, because if you will give me yourself, I promise I will be as authentic as you are.”

 

The connection between Taylor and her famous subject began when a film industry friend of Taylor’s got in touch to ask the filmmaker what she thought of Celine Dion.

 

“And I said to her, well, I don’t really think of her that much, but she’s certainly a powerhouse,” Taylor said. “I mean, that voice.”

 

Fans know Dion as a pop superstar, famed for such hits as “My Heart Will Go On,” “It’s All Coming Back To Me Now,” and many more.

 

For Taylor, Dion’s music was “part of the soundtrack of my life, just growing up as a woman in North America,” but she hadn’t followed Dion’s career closely.

 

“My friend said, I think you guys would really get along, and I wondered if you wanted to meet her manager,” Taylor said.

 

“I always am very engaged when I have good accessibility to someone’s authentic self, and if that person is ready, it’s a whole other artistic endeavor, it’s a whole other level of storytelling, I think,” Taylor said. “So, that’s kind of how it all began.”

 

Taylor wasn’t interested in telling “a story of a celebrity, or what it’s like to be a global megastar. I really just needed to get to know her, and that’s a bit of an anxious road. That’s a road filled with a lot of anxiety for a filmmaker if you don’t know what your film is going to be about.”

 

In an early meeting on Zoom, Taylor was “in my home studio, my home office in Portland, and I’m basically in the woods, so right off the bat, she wanted to know where I was, because she saw the beautiful trees of the Marquam Trail, up in the Southwest hills. We started connecting, and lo and behold, I found out she loved trees. I was in the middle of making a film about trees,” the HBO documentary, “Trees and Other Entanglements.”

 

“Simply put, I really liked her. She was very warm, and she’s not just funny, she’s a little kooky,” Taylor said. “I think respecting the person you’re making a film about is an absolute must. And in the case of Celine, I respected her, but I realized I also just liked her.”

 

While countless documentaries about celebrities sing the praises of their subjects without much depth, Taylor’s approach was different. “I didn’t approach meeting her, and starting the film process, as a fan, and I told her that,” Taylor said. “I was in my intellect a lot more than I might have been had I been a passionate music fan, and I think that was helpful, because there were a lot of details to wade through, and we sort of discovered together what her illness was. Her celebrity is not what drew me in at all. It was more her talent, Before I knew she has this one-in-a-million disease, she’s a one-in-a-million voice. And there’s a person, and a human being behind it. And that’s what really drew me in.”

 

 

In an exceptionally powerful sequence, Dion suffers a medical crisis, as muscles throughout her body stiffen. Tears fall down her face as she moans, and medical providers intervene to help her through the ordeal.

 

 

“The most difficult part was seeing her in moments of unimaginable physical discomfort,” Taylor said. “At the end of the day, I’m a human being, and if someone in front of me needs medical help, or is having a medical emergency, I’m going to of course put the camera down, and help that person.”

 

“I realized over time that she wanted me to truly document when her days were like that,” Taylor said. “That was one of the most extraordinary aspects of making the film for me was that she really wanted me to keep the camera rolling, no matter what was happening, and that I could trust we all were a team, and there were people there that could help her, because she needed physical help.”

 

Rather than a film strictly for fans of Dion’s music, Taylor said, “I think this is a film for anyone who has encountered an obstacle that they cannot control in their life, and I think that’s most conscious humans.”"

Edited June 19, 2024 at 02:50 PM by scielle

[smw]

 

Since she has been "back" and sharing what she has been through, many many many comments here started ( and sometimes only focused on that) with "Oh I don't like her hair, Oh her make up is bad" instead of what she was saying or lived.

 

 

Yeah it’s crazy to focus on her hair or makeup or clothes during this time. Paying a compliment is fine but criticizing her right now in any way whatsoever is a bit bananas.

 

After seeing the documentary and seeing what Celine’s life has become with this disease, it makes all of that stuff just not matter at all. We should all be celebrating the fact that she’s alive, managing this condition, and has worked so hard to get back to her career because she wants to.

 

Perhaps people will start to get it more after they see her crisis unfold onscreen. It’s absolutely devastating to see this powerful woman we’ve admired for so many years in such a helpless state. I wanted to jump through the screen and help her. It was awful.

[scielle]

See the Spoilers thread for a running collection of reviews - we've been posting them there out of consideration for those who are yet to see it.

Just added another one, positively glowing, from Radio Times. (Been trying to keep up with the English reviews at least, but pretty sure I've dropped the ball on the French).

So far this project is shaping up to be the best reviewed of Celine's career.

 

Not putting the entire thing here, because spoilers, but it's a really good read, ending with -

 

"Taken as a whole, it is a must-watch. It's not just for the many millions of fans of Celine's music, but for anyone who wants a true-to-life portrayal of the daily, if not hourly, ups and downs of someone living with a debilitating condition.

When juxtaposed with Celine's authentic kindness and determination to fight, it makes for a moving, through-provoking, and oddly uplifting watch. It's not one to be missed."

Edited June 19, 2024 at 04:39 PM by scielle

[CelinesDIVO5]

Seems Irene is doing press today. Looking forward to more from her.

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Warning, it does have spoilers. But it also has some good non-spoiler quotes (Google translated):

 

“The director of the film, Irene Taylor, whom I met on Tuesday, shares the vision of this lonely and lonely Céline, who carries a heavy secret.

 

“Before revealing her diagnosis, Céline was going through an extremely difficult period where she was no longer performing, where she didn't know what she had and where she was taking a cocktail of medications to be able to walk and talk. I wouldn't call his loneliness pathetic, it was more of an existential loneliness. She had lost her connection to the world through her fans,” says Irene Taylor, who entered Celine Dion’s bubble between fall 2021 and fall 2022.

 

Where were Céline's friends during this dark period? Her brothers and sisters? Her relatives ? There are staff around her, of course. But who among her bodyguards was looking after her?”

 

You can have all the people around you and still feel lonely.

[tshlw]

The CBC podcast celebrating Celine ahead of the premier this past Monday is now on Youtube and see the participants instead of just hear them.

 

[Nmj]

A better photo of Celine’s siblings at the Montreal premiere Monday.

https://x.com/mrh1868/status/1803468504760229941?s=46&t=TA5MCZLCELI5_tgOe-P7Mw

[mirage]

 

 

A great interview with Irene from her local paper. Posting in full because it tells us a lot about how this film came about; I don't think any spoilers that you wouldn't already know about from Celine's interviews.

Javascript is not enabled OR refresh the page to view

Click here to view the Tweet

 

"Portland’s Irene Taylor on directing ‘I Am: Celine Dion,’ a powerful portrait of the singer

 

When Irene Taylor agreed to make a documentary film about the internationally famous singer Celine Dion, she initially thought she would be filming Dion performing on tour. But instead, Taylor soon learned what “most of the world knows now, that she had been unwell.”

 

“I didn’t know that, because she had not been public about it at that point,” the Portland-based Taylor said in a recent phone interview. It wasn’t until Taylor started to get to know Dion that she learned what only a few people close to the singer and involved in her treatment realized, which was that Dion “had been suffering for years.”

 

Though most viewers haven’t yet had a chance to watch it, “I Am: Celine Dion,” the feature-length documentary Taylor directed, has already been making news for Dion’s willingness to open up about her struggles with stiff person syndrome, a rare neurological disorder whose symptoms include muscle spasms.

 

While the film presents an intimate, sometimes devastating portrait of Dion and how the illness has impacted her life, her powerful voice, and her ability to perform, that wasn’t what Taylor originally set out to do.

 

When filming started, “She didn’t have a diagnosis yet,” Taylor said. Dion didn’t make a public statement about being diagnosed with stiff person syndrome until December 2022.

 

“It’s not like I knew I wanted to make a story about Celine being sick,” Taylor said. “The story revealed itself.”

 

Taylor’s previous films have earned her acclaim, an Oscar nomination, and won Emmy, duPont-Columbia and Peabody awards. Her subjects have sometimes been personal, as with “Hear and Now,” and “Moonlight Sonata: Deafness in Three Movements,” which explored the experiences of members of her family who are deaf.

 

Other of Taylor’s works delve into social issues, as with “Leave No Trace: A Hidden History of the Boy Scouts,” an investigation of a decades-long scandal involving sexual abuse cases covered up by the Boy Scouts of America.

 

“I Am: Celine Dion” is, Taylor said, “Nothing like anything I’ve ever made, because I was so focused on telling the story about her. She told me very early on, I do not want other people in the film talking about me, that’s the only thing I ask of you. She just said, will you let me tell my story. And she thought she was asking me to do her a favor by not going out and having people opine about her. And I said, oh my goodness, this is music to my ears as a storyteller, because if you will give me yourself, I promise I will be as authentic as you are.”

 

The connection between Taylor and her famous subject began when a film industry friend of Taylor’s got in touch to ask the filmmaker what she thought of Celine Dion.

 

“And I said to her, well, I don’t really think of her that much, but she’s certainly a powerhouse,” Taylor said. “I mean, that voice.”

 

Fans know Dion as a pop superstar, famed for such hits as “My Heart Will Go On,” “It’s All Coming Back To Me Now,” and many more.

 

For Taylor, Dion’s music was “part of the soundtrack of my life, just growing up as a woman in North America,” but she hadn’t followed Dion’s career closely.

 

“My friend said, I think you guys would really get along, and I wondered if you wanted to meet her manager,” Taylor said.

 

“I always am very engaged when I have good accessibility to someone’s authentic self, and if that person is ready, it’s a whole other artistic endeavor, it’s a whole other level of storytelling, I think,” Taylor said. “So, that’s kind of how it all began.”

 

Taylor wasn’t interested in telling “a story of a celebrity, or what it’s like to be a global megastar. I really just needed to get to know her, and that’s a bit of an anxious road. That’s a road filled with a lot of anxiety for a filmmaker if you don’t know what your film is going to be about.”

 

In an early meeting on Zoom, Taylor was “in my home studio, my home office in Portland, and I’m basically in the woods, so right off the bat, she wanted to know where I was, because she saw the beautiful trees of the Marquam Trail, up in the Southwest hills. We started connecting, and lo and behold, I found out she loved trees. I was in the middle of making a film about trees,” the HBO documentary, “Trees and Other Entanglements.”

 

“Simply put, I really liked her. She was very warm, and she’s not just funny, she’s a little kooky,” Taylor said. “I think respecting the person you’re making a film about is an absolute must. And in the case of Celine, I respected her, but I realized I also just liked her.”

 

While countless documentaries about celebrities sing the praises of their subjects without much depth, Taylor’s approach was different. “I didn’t approach meeting her, and starting the film process, as a fan, and I told her that,” Taylor said. “I was in my intellect a lot more than I might have been had I been a passionate music fan, and I think that was helpful, because there were a lot of details to wade through, and we sort of discovered together what her illness was. Her celebrity is not what drew me in at all. It was more her talent, Before I knew she has this one-in-a-million disease, she’s a one-in-a-million voice. And there’s a person, and a human being behind it. And that’s what really drew me in.”

 

 

In an exceptionally powerful sequence, Dion suffers a medical crisis, as muscles throughout her body stiffen. Tears fall down her face as she moans, and medical providers intervene to help her through the ordeal.

 

 

“The most difficult part was seeing her in moments of unimaginable physical discomfort,” Taylor said. “At the end of the day, I’m a human being, and if someone in front of me needs medical help, or is having a medical emergency, I’m going to of course put the camera down, and help that person.”

 

“I realized over time that she wanted me to truly document when her days were like that,” Taylor said. “That was one of the most extraordinary aspects of making the film for me was that she really wanted me to keep the camera rolling, no matter what was happening, and that I could trust we all were a team, and there were people there that could help her, because she needed physical help.”

 

Rather than a film strictly for fans of Dion’s music, Taylor said, “I think this is a film for anyone who has encountered an obstacle that they cannot control in their life, and I think that’s most conscious humans.”"

 

Great article! Thanks for posting and spoiler warnings.

Nice to finally get to know a little bit of the process.

 

Funny how we all know how Celine is as a person, we follow her closely.

And everytime someone that only knows a few songs meets/works with her, they confirm what we always know.

 

Verstuurd vanaf mijn SM-F721B met Tapatalk

 

 

[Nmj]

 

 

 

 

Great article! Thanks for posting and spoiler warnings.

Nice to finally get to know a little bit of the process.

 

Funny how we all know how Celine is as a person, we follow her closely.

And everytime someone that only knows a few songs meets/works with her, they confirm what we always know.

 

Verstuurd vanaf mijn SM-F721B met Tapatalk

 

I think Irene was a perfect person for obvious reasons that we’ve talked about… but for the “vault” footage it might’ve been nice if she reached out to the fan base like Jenna glazer did for her book. Regardless though this clearly wasn’t that type of film.

Edited June 19, 2024 at 07:15 PM by Nmj

[mirage]

A better photo of Celine’s siblings at the Montreal premiere Monday.

https://x.com/mrh1868/status/1803468504760229941?s=46&t=TA5MCZLCELI5_tgOe-P7Mw

I wonder how it was for them to watch their little sister struggling.

Of course we don't know how much they knew, but still it must be painful to watch.

 

Love that Michel missed his ponytail, it was an iconic look for him.

Ghislaine looks very fragile, but the last time I saw her was with Sur Le Plaines.

The rest just looks the same but older

 

Would love to be a fly on the wall when they are all together. With so many siblings it must be fun and intense at the same time.

 

Verstuurd vanaf mijn SM-F721B met Tapatalk

 

 

[tshlw]

I wonder how it was for them to watch their little sister struggling.

Of course we don't know how much they knew, but still it must be painful to watch.

 

Love that Michel missed his ponytail, it was an iconic look for him.

Ghislaine looks very fragile, but the last time I saw her was with Sur Le Plaines.

The rest just looks the same but older

 

Would love to be a fly on the wall when they are all together. With so many siblings it must be fun and intense at the same time.

 

Verstuurd vanaf mijn SM-F721B met Tapatalk

 

Wondered same thing how it was for them to watch, I could not imagine.

 

So that was Ghislaine next to Michael? Was she the one with cancer after Rene passed that Celine said was down to like 93lbs when she talked to Katie Couric. Might

explain why so frail but nice that she is still alive then.

[tshlw]

Celine Dion Gets CANDID on Why She Wanted to Share Her Health Journey in New Documentary (Exclusive)

 

[Céline RO]

1718824759[/url'>' post='2452580']

I wonder how it was for them to watch their little sister struggling.

Of course we don't know how much they knew, but still it must be painful to watch.

 

Love that Michel missed his ponytail, it was an iconic look for him.

Ghislaine looks very fragile, but the last time I saw her was with Sur Le Plaines.

The rest just looks the same but older

 

Would love to be a fly on the wall when they are all together. With so many siblings it must be fun and intense at the same time.

 

Verstuurd vanaf mijn SM-F721B met Tapatalk

1718824916' post='2452581']

Wondered same thing how it was for them to watch, I could not imagine.

 

So that was Ghislaine next to Michael? Was she the one with cancer after Rene passed that Celine said was down to like 93lbs when she talked to Katie Couric. Might

explain why so frail but nice that she is still alive then.

 

Right I knew Ghislaine had had cancer but I couldn’t remember where I learned that! Anyway, here’s Ghislaine with Céline on August 25th 2016.

[scielle]

Anyone know the name of the ASL interpreter from Monday’s premiere?

[Nmj]

Anyone know the name of the ASL interpreter from Monday’s premiere?

 

There’s an article or video (can’t remember after this press) of Irene thanking him by name, we have to find it.

Edited June 19, 2024 at 08:30 PM by Nmj