Celine Dion Sobs in New Documentary Trailer: ‘If I Can’t Walk, I’ll Crawl’
I’d be lying if I said one of those corny phrases like, “I didn’t have ‘crying to a trailer for a Céline Dion documentary’ on my Bingo card for a Thursday morning.” Rose Dewitt Bukater has a better chance of still convincing us that Jack couldn’t fit on that door than I had fighting back tears at a preview for I Am: Céline Dion, in which the music supernova emotionally discusses the rare neurological disorder that’s forced her to step back from performing. Of course I’d be crying.
There are more self-aggrandizing celebrity biographical documentaries these days than there are notes in a Céline Dion riff. But there’s something special about I Am: Céline Dion, at least as previewed in the trailer that was released Thursday morning. This isn’t a masturbatory celebration of a career past its climax. It’s a desperate plea for a career to continue, made by a woman so frustrated by this debilitating disease that she breaks down and sobs multiple times in the trailer.
Fittingly, the teaser for the film, which will be released on Prime Video on June 25, begins with Dion screaming out one of her signature, unmatched vocal wails. (“Is the sound man OK?” she jokes after.) It’s a reminder of what a powerhouse she is—and a cry for that gift, which is her lifeblood, to not abandon her. “My voice is the conductor of my life,” she says. “When your voice brings you joy, you’re the best of yourself. I need my instrument.”