Celine Dion fans did not expect to be shaken up like this by the documentary dedicated to the star, I am: Celine Dionreleased Tuesday on Prime Video. If we can discover the Canadian singer, suffering from the symptom of the stiff person, ready to do anything to return to the stage “even if it means crawling” as the 56-year-old star confided during an interview with Hoda Kotb of TODAY at the beginning of the month, other moments are likely to offend the most sensitive.
In question, a scene in particular where the mother of René-Charles, Nelson and Eddy is the victim of a seizure. We see her held in a lateral safety position, her body stiffened, her gaze fixed, then her face distorted by pain and spasms before spreading to the entire body. In voiceover, we hear a member of the medical profession explaining that during a crisis, the patient remains conscious and that the situation is therefore very distressing.
There are those who are in shock, like this Internet user who cannot express “how raw, heartbreaking and, sometimes, upsetting it is. This will haunt me for a while. » Some have had to take breaks to recover from the shock of seeing how terrible the pain is for their idol.
Immodest or necessary?
If the star’s lovers bluntly say “it’s tearing my heart out”, for some spectators, this upsetting sequence is necessary, and for others, it is “deliberately immodest” or voyeuristic.
What is certain is that the film will have raised awareness about what stiff person syndrome is. This was the intention of director Irene Taylor, who wants us to fully understand what Celine Dion is going through, and who justified her choice in the New York Times.
“So we didn’t cut it. There were times when I was like, “OK, this is really intense.” I let it go on for two or three seconds longer, then cut it off. There are uncomfortable aspects of life, and if cinematic storytelling can help us tolerate that discomfort, that’s what I want to do with my films,” she explained.
