“I Am: Celine Dion” Review: You’ve Seen the Best of Me

The disease shows no respect for even the most revered figures in pop music

In “I Am: Celine Dion,” a documentary about the global singer on Amazon Prime Video, it quickly becomes clear that Dion can’t even move her body, let alone sing a soulful ballad with all the strength she has, since she was a teenager, has raked in millions. The film, from director Irene Taylor, records the singer’s painful reality as she battles the rare neurological condition called Stiff Person Syndrome.

In an Instagram post in December 2022, Dion tearfully revealed her diagnosis to her fans, but by then the documentary was already in production. Taylor opens the film with relaxed scenes of Dion at her Las Vegas home with her children and staff. Then comes the part that’s painful to watch: The singer is heard groaning as she has a seizure on the floor. Learning early on that she’s always wanted to sing “my whole life” heightens the tragedy of watching Dion, now 56, struggle to keep living that dream. Dion’s voice made her a star; this film is eager to make her a person.

But there’s nothing subtle about Taylor’s edits, like a high-energy cut of the past performance with the subdued domestic energy on display as Dion vacuums her couch. One shot pans to her eerily empty living room, a stark departure from playing in packed stadiums. The score hurts too. All this palpable sadness is, perhaps, why Taylor inserts clips of Dion in better times.

I understand the tendency not to define Dion by his diagnosis. But Dion’s spontaneously expressive personality shines through in his pain in raw shots that seem more tied to his healing journey, as when her physical therapist pesters her about a cream she didn’t apply to her feet. “Give me a break,” he says with playful exasperation.

Then she sings “Gimme a Break,” the Kit Kat commercial jingle. While that welcome touch of humor draws you into this intimately told story, what’s more Celine than an off-the-cuff voice? — insignificant clips take you out of her: Sia’s impersonation of her on a late-night talk show; a snippet of her from the “Ashes” video that lets the Deadpool cameo go on too long; her career-defining ballad “My Heart Will Go On” but, oddly enough, the “Carpool Karaoke” version with James Corden.

These awkward segments undermine the powerful emotional tone of Dion’s testimony that transcends her circumstances. Especially when she lets the cameras roam, showing some of the darkest health-related scenes I’ve ever seen from an on-screen superstar.

“I think I’ve been really good,” Dion says of her career. After seeing a sequined costume of hers hanging in her house, her “era” is extremely honest. But when she sings during a studio session, she still does it. AND Very good. A final shot shows her as a starry-eyed teenager staring up at the stage lights. It’s as if her younger self has something to say after all these years: that if not now, it might all come back to her soon.