Céline a Biopic of Sorts
How big of a fan of Céline Dion are you? Are you an avid fan who repetitively listens to her music, goes to her concerts and read her biography from cover to cover or are you just an average Joe who enjoys listening to an occasional song. It is a very important question because huge fans especially those from her native Quebec are probably going to hate the TV movie "Céline" but for the general fan it is an entertaining, easy to watch biopic which gives you a rough idea of where it all began.
So to give you a rough idea of what is covered in "Céline" it starts unsurprisingly in the relative present with a grown up Céline taking to the stage to sing the iconic theme from "Titanic" but then magically flashes back to Céline as a little girl where she is run over by a car. The movie skips through her childhood as one of a big family of musicians, her parents giving her a chance to reach for her dream when at 11 they contact Rene Angelil to have him manage her who risks everything on her career. Of course this eventually leads to them embarking on a relationship, marriage and that amazing career.
Now all of this works if like me you are a casual fan of Céline Dion and her music because it is an easy to watch walk through of her life. We get to see how it all started, how she came from a large musical family from Charlemagne, Quebec and how as a teen Céline disliked the way she looked and felt she was ugly. We also see how Rene came to be her manager and eventually her husband some years after he became her manager.
But as I said this works for the casual fan and probably doesn't work for a dedicated fan of Céline or for those from Quebec. I say this because I am well aware of a few facts and in order for the movie to work they have messed about with the time line, skipped over certain things and done all the normal tricks you expect from a TV movie. It also skips over that Céline spoke French and her early career was dominated by singing in French. Now I can understand why because it would have made this movie less likely to attract the casual fans which it is aiming for but at the same time is sure to annoy many.
Despite this "Céline" is still entertaining with plenty of musical moments but also good performances especially from Enrico Colantoni as Rene and Christine Ghawi as Céline. They not only bring each character to life but work very well together to make the relationship believable. The rest of the cast are just as good especially Mac Fyfe as Céline's supportive brother Michel.
What this all boils down to is that "Céline" is a biopic for those who have a general like of Céline Dion's music but not in depth enough for a dedicated fan.
