94 TIME April 11/April 18, 2022
EVEN WHEN MUSIC BIOPICS WIN
Oscars —as the 2018 Freddie Mercury
saga Bohemian Rhapsody did—they’re
still a hard sell with the public these
days. Maybe we’ve had it with stories
of ordinary kids who spin their gifts
into superstar gold, or with cornpone
conventions like watching an insom-
niac singer plink out a future hit at the
piano. But whether you love or loathe
music-biopic clichés, you’ve never
seen anything like Aline, an unauthor-
ized account of the life of Canadian
superstar Céline Dion. So broadly
sketched it’s more a puppet show than
a movie, so swollen with sentimental-
ity that it makes the most histrionic
Dion ballad seem restrained, so weird
in the way it digitally morphs the face
and body of a 50-something actor
into a sort of AI adolescent, Aline isn’t
going to win any prizes in the subtlety
department. But it’s also compul-
sively, stupidly watchable.
Valérie Lemercier—who also
directed and co-wrote the ilm—stars
as Aline Dieu, the millionth or so
child born to a simple couple in a tiny
house in Quebec, perpetually nestled
among snowdrifts. Aline can sing,
and how! At age 12—played by a digi-
tally blurred and shrunken Lemercier,
like a hobbit imported from Middle-
earth—she’s taken on by a manager,
Guy-Claude (Sylvain Marcel), who
helps her believe in herself. When a
rude stagehand mocks Aline’s not-
so-pretty face before a performance,
Guy-Claude rushes to her side to as-
sure her she’s the best and most beau-
tiful of them all. He persuades Aline’s
protective mother Sylvette (Danielle
Fichaud) that her daughter’s alarm-
ingly pointy canines must be ixed
for showbiz reasons. Teenage Aline,
with no friends her own age, falls hard
for Guy-Claude; a few years later,
their story becomes a romance for the
ages. Meanwhile, her career explodes,
leading her to the holy grail of music
stardom : a Las Vegas residency.
Did Dion’s life go down exactly like
this? Does it matter? All biopics are
works of invention, and if this one is
sillier than most, its tinselly excesses
at least give it go-for-broke conviction.
Aline Dieu, mon dieu! She’ll make a
believer out of you. □MOVIES
A cornpone
biopic grabs the
mic with gusto
BY STEPHANIE ZACHAREK
TIME OFF REVIEWS
Lemercier as Aline: the show, and her heart, will go onMOVIESALINE: GAMOUNT FILM/LIFESTYLE PICTURES/ALAMY; COW: IFC FILMS; EL SEED: NATALIE NACCACHE FOR TIME