Celine Dion singing at the top of the Eiffel Tower on July 26 will remain one of the highlights of 2024, and images taken from the documentary The Great Seine allow you to see the diva in nighttime rehearsals the day before her big return to the stage.
Behind the scenes of this remarkable moment of the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games is revealed in a passage from the documentary The Great Seine.
“We didn't know until the end if she could, and neither could she. We didn't know it. We were a little uncertain whether she could do it,” says the director of the ceremony, Thomas Jolly, to the camera.
We witness the arrival of Céline Dion, 56, at the Trocadéro at 2:30 a.m., in a Dior tracksuit, ready for her dress rehearsal.
“I first encountered a light,” says Thomas Jolly, who explains that he only saw the light of the diva, despite the darkness of the night.
A gift for the whole world
“What a gift for the whole world!” he says, while admiring the Quebec singer at work.
On stage, Céline Dion performs The hymn to love by Édith Piaf in front of a small crowd which was overcome by emotion. We see people wiping their tears.
Celine Dion is accompanied by her longtime musical director, Scott Price, who mimes her performance on the piano alongside her. He will take “his Céline” in his arms at the end of the rehearsal.
“Céline Dion is particularly magnetic. It’s human to human,” says Thomas Jolly about his meeting with the star.
“Thank you, it’s a great honor for us to be here. May heaven bear us,” Celine Dion told him solemnly.
She even sings an extract from Tonight we dance in Naziland, a piece from the rock opera Starmaniawith Thomas Jolly. “I sing with Céline Dion,” exclaims with a laugh the director, who had been chosen to recreate the musical by Michel Berger and Luc Plamondon.
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