Celine Dion receives 'sincere homage' at Cannes Film Festival
Popular Canadian singer Celine Dion’s biopic Aline: The Voice of Love premiered at the Cannes Film Festival this year and the film turned out to be some light relief from the usual gritty arthouse fare at Cannes.
Aline: The Voice of Love won the appreciation from audience as it received a warm praise and tearful standing ovation following its premiere at the French film festival.
The film is one of the least pretentious music biopics in memory, presenting Dion as a gawky nerd who nonetheless sailed from child stardom to become the stadium-filling queen of soft rock.
The filmmakers said they tweaked the star´s name to Aline Dieu to give them some wriggle room over the details of her story, though it hews closely to Dion´s real life and songs.
"Otherwise we would have a brother complaining that his jumper in 1988 was blue not red," joked Valerie Lemercier, who directs and stars in the film, at a news conference Wednesday.
While it takes a very relaxed, low-drama approach to its subject, the film does include one striking directorial decision by having Lemercier play Dion from the age of 12 right through to adulthood, with the help of some photo-shopping.
But there was never any suggestion that the film would do anything but fawn over the star.
"We were never going to give her the second degree," said Lemercier. "Celine is someone that I admire a lot, that never bores me. Whatever she does, it´s always amusing, interesting -- she´s captivating."
The film has been delayed by the pandemic, having been set for release before Christmas, and now due in cinemas this November.
Lemercier was philosophical, "If we hadn´t had this delay, we wouldn´t be here in Cannes... and hey, it gave me some time to tidy up my house."