Review: "Aline" is a Stranger Version of Your Average Biopic

By: Christopher James

Director/actress Valerie Lemercier tackles the life of "Aline Dieu" from age 5 to 50.Aline is a conundrum and a contradiction. More than any other recent biopic, Aline soldiers through all of the cliches and plot devices we’ve seen repeated ad nauseum. Yet, there’s a bizarre core that spins every scene on the axis. Much like the “subject,” Céline Dion, it’s a movie that tries to appear normal, but is so much wackier than one would imagine. 

Everyone’s first question is answered in the opening disclaimer. “This film is inspired by the life of Céline Dion. It is, however, a work of fiction. As such, some characters, places and facts have been modified, in keeping with the filmmakers’ vision.” Céline Dion songs are used throughout the film and the closest the movie comes to a central storyline mimics Dion’s own relationship with her much older manager, René Angélil. It’s hard to see why a name change was needed when so many other elements hewed close to life. 

So is Aline “so bad it’s good,” “better than expected” or just “bad bad”?

Valerie Lemercier swings for the fences in her central performance, which uses many of Celine Dion's songs.The answer: everything in between.

Some biopics go “from cradle to grave.” Aline goes one step further. Director (and star) Valérie Lemercier starts the film at Aline Dieu’s parents’ courtship. Sylvette (Danielle Fichaud) and Anglomard (Roc Lafortune) get married and initially, Anglomard doesn’t want children. Flash-forward a decade or two and the Dieu family is about to welcome their fourteenth child, Aline (played by 58-year-old Lemercier). By the age of five, Aline displayed an incredible talent for singing at her brother’s wedding. Her family nurtures her talent to the point that she is signed by manager Guy-Claude Kamar (Sylvain Marcel) at age 12. Aline’s talent cannot be contained by her regional fame in Quebec. Nurtured by Guy, who soon becomes her lover, Aline transforms into an American and global superstar. Of course, becoming a star means the snaggletoothed, gangly Aline must go through rigorous makeover montages galore.

The table setting is mostly rote and boring, save for horrifying CGI to make Lamercier look like a pre-teen. Once Aline hits America and becomes a sensation, a bizarre, rapid fire trip through Céline Dion’s not-so-greatest-hits unfolds. We see everything from a more sedate version of her “My Heart Will Go On” Oscar performance and famed “River Deep, Mountain High” Vegas performance. By the time the film wraps up, we have a strange “A Star is Born” esque final act that feels unearned. 

Sylvain Marcel stars as Guy-Claude Kamar, Aline's manager turned husband.

While I’m not one for the age gap discourse, the Guy and Aline romance is troubling both in practicality and as rendered by the film. Watching Valérie Lemercier and Sylvain Marcel share the screen doesn’t inherently spark red flags, mostly because Lemercier never once really registers below the age of 30. However, the film’s insistence to move at breakneck speed only makes the budding relationship that much more creepy. When the two characters meet, Aline is a 12 year old prodigy. Two scenes later, they have an irresistible love. Between those two scenes, Aline has aged six years, but the movie doesn’t share that information until later. Though her mother protests to the relationship, that conflict is cut short to move to the next Aline/Céline factoid. Neither the movie, nor Aline, seems to think there’s anything eyebrow raising about her love for Guy. This is one of many places where you learn the existence of Aline is not to interrogate or pry into the life of Céline Dion, albeit behind the guise of pseudonym. It’s just meant to be a strange, energetic ride as we watch Aline ascend to superstardom.

Was Aline fun to watch? Yes, but it should’ve been more fun (and it might be more fun in clip format). Did Valérie Lemercier make a good Aline “Céline Dion” Dieu? Somewhat. It’s no easy feat to play someone from child to middle aged adult. While Lemercier never quite sells the illusion. She does a great job conveying Aline’s journey from “deer in the headlight” prodigy to idiosyncratic superstar. For someone who has enjoyed Céline Dion for decades, Lemercier fails to capture Dion’s larger than life persona. Céline is goofier, louder and more energetic than most performers, both in music and in acting. Lemercier chooses to make Aline smaller, a mistake no true Céline Dion fan would ever make. C

What did you think of Aline? Let us know in the comments below.

Comments

[Glenn Dunks]

I'm not one to use words like 'weird' or 'strange' or 'crazy' too willy-nilly. A lot of times when people say stuff like that, they're just not actually used to a filmmaker with an imagination beyond the baseline.

ALINE? This was fuckin' weeeiiirrrd. Absolutely bizarre watching this woman shoot herself like a horrible little gremlin at all ages. Not sure it can be called a vanity project for Lermercier for that reason. Celine Dion is a bit chaotic as a personality, but she was never a hideous gnome like they keep implying she was here. Maybe that's the fictionalised part of the movie because it's clearly Celine's life with her songs? So strange. Honestly a baffling night out at the movies for me but like, maybe, CATS, that very strangeness offers it something that so few films actually have. I honestly will be thinking about it for years to come.

[thevoid99]

Does it have a moment where she butchers AC/DC's "You Shook Me All Night Long" like Celine did back in the early 2000s during Divas Live?

I like Celine Dion but... that was horrid.

[Fabio Dantas Flappers]

Man... that's completely crazy!