This weekend, you can see three different movies that are so outrageous, each threatening to ruin your brain with the relish that Macho Man Randy Savage would snap into a Slim Jim. Everything Everywhere All at Once is an action-comedy about an everywoman who learns it is up to her to save the multi-verse in all its oddest forms. Michael Bay's newest film, Ambulance, is an action movie with a lot of action and a lot of gravy. The most bizarre element of Aline is that it exists at all.
The opening title card warns that the film is inspired by the life of Dion. What does that mean? It means that you will see elements of Dion's life, like being the youngest of 14 children in a French-Canadian household, breaking through with her stunning performance in an international singing competition, and performing the theme song from Titanic at the Oscars. Aline Dieu is the character that isn't Dion, because the filmmakers don't have Dion's life rights. She doesn't win the contest, but she will perform "My Heart Will Go On" on the show.
Yes. The rights to some of Dion's songs have been licensed by Aline. Every other aspect of this performance and presentation, however, rests on the shoulders of the daring Valrie Lemercier.
Lemercier headlines Aline as Aline, but also directs and co-wrote the screenplay. Few filmmakers have dared to wear so many hats. Kenneth Branagh and this 58-year-old French filmmaker go a step further than each other. She decided to play both adult Aline and even 5-year-old Aline. That is an amazing thing to see.
There is a scene where a woman is trying to fudge her face to look like a small child. The cinematography hides Aline's face or keeps a distance during a family band performance. There is no point in these tricks making Lemercier look like a child. It's like Dear Evan Hansen level of casting cringe, and that's before we get to how Lemercier made herself child-sized.
In the first half of the film, she is shrunk down to her parents and manager. This was done by shooting her parts separately, so she could be added later in the scene. Short adults don't look like children, so it doesn't have much effect beyond plunging us into adolescence.
Credit: Jean-Marie Leroy / Roadside Attractions and Samuel Goldwyn Films
She told Slash that she wouldn't want to put a kid into a situation where they might feel awkward, like having her looks picked over by grown-ups.
Like Dion and her husband, Aline and hers have a large age gap. They first met when she was a child and he was her manager. Sylvette was angry that the man she trusted with her child may have been trying to seduce her daughter. Aline has no friends her own age and little life outside of performing.
The central antagonist of the film is Sylvette's disapproval of their relationship. Lemercier paints a problematic relationship as the key to Dion's success and happiness. Aline was portrayed as being in control because she initiated their first sexual encounter, despite the fact that her manager had been in charge of her for eight years.
I began to wonder if Lemercier was aware of how young Aline looks like a grown up, and how that might encourage the audience to feel less squicked by Guy-Claude. I don't know the details of her relationship with her husband. Aline's story feels less romantic and more repulsive even though it is presented through Lemercier's glasses.
Credit: Jean-Marie Leroy / Roadside Attractions and Samuel Goldwyn Films
Aline doesn't have the verve of the real thing because she doesn't make bold and frankly bizarre choices as a writer, director, and leading lady. Dion has become an international singing sensation and a gift to drag queens around the world because of her performance. The performance of Lemercier is not as intense as that of Celine. Aline needs to do more than just mimic her kicks to bring her up to par. Lemercier feels like the Wish.com version of Dion. It is vaguely familiar but not as exciting or fun as you would have hoped.
There is an off-kilter amusement in watching Aline, but it is not as funny as you might think. The stunt that transforms a fiftysomething actress into a child is jaw-dropping. The story structure that ignores tried-and-true tropes of rags-to-riches biopics in favor of an unsavory romance might have you agog. The performance of Lemercier is oddly unaware and boring. She sprinkles on sentimental details like ice skates accidentally worn to an auditioning. The film feels like a parody of musician biographies, delivered with a straight face. It is funny. It's funny, but not exactly. More like a joke.
Lemercier won an award for Best Actress. Maybe the joke is on all of us who don't chase our dreams.
Aline opens on April 8.
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