Picture of the movie Aline (Aline, the Voice of Love) © JEAN-MARIE LEROY © RECTANGLE PRODUCTIONS/GAUMONT/TF1 FILMS PRODUCTION, DE L'HUILE/ PRODUCTIONS CARAMEL FILM INC./PCF ALINE LE FILM INC./BELGA PRODUCTIONS
Céline as seen by Valérie Lemercier
In her no-holds-barred screen adaptation of Céline Dion's life, Valérie Lemercier dives deep into the super-sized world of the Canadian legend. For Lemercier's sixth feature film she plays Aline Dieu, an alter-ego that stays true to the international superstar, offering up a loose yet true-to-life interpretation of the singer's heady rise to fame. The only French member of an intentionally Canadian cast, the actor and director treats us to a stereotype-free character in Aline (Aline, The Voice of Love), an ambitious, glittering fairy-tale of epic proportions and high-powered decibels, presented here Out of Competition.
A rag-to-riches tale based on the true story of the little girl who became a global sensation. Pitch-perfect and designed to be taken at face value, Valérie Lemercier left no stone unturned in her research, in an ambitious first biopic she intended to be enjoyed as a straight-up story, rather than a parody. Drawing on her admiration for the living legend that is Céline Dion, the director takes a step back from the real-life singer all the better to capture her, injecting her performance with both eccentricity and authenticity, without over-egging the accent.
She offers us up Aline from the age of five to the present day, using make-up and the deftest of sleights of hand to bring her character to life in an extraordinary performance. The narrative unfolds over a 45-year-period, from 1950s Canada to the singer's world tours, capturing her larger-than-life shows, and ending in a flamboyant show-stopper by recreating her Las Vegas concert.
Shot in France, the United States, and Canada, Victoria Sio is the voice behind the magic. Quebecois actors are given pride of place here, including the fiery Danielle Fichaud as Aline's mother. The film intuitively centres on the powerful, unique romance between Aline and Guy-Claude (Sylvain Marcel), a spell-binding embodiment of the relationship between René and Céline.
