A pre-credit disclaimer brings us up to speed: what follows is a fictionalized biopic inspired by the life of Céline Dion that’s “been modified in keeping with the filmmaker’s vision.” Regrettably, writer-director-star Valérie Lemercier never makes good on her promise of a triple threat. When drained, the script contains enough obeisant sap to fill an oil tanker. (I learned more about the singer’s humanness from her annual exchanges with Jerry Lewis on the MDA Telethon than anything here.) Lemercier plays Aline from girlhood — the de-aging remodel suggests a shrunken apple head carving — to the present day with but a single refreshing spin put on her subject. The Las Vegas fixture never once sets foot outside the hotel and when she does, rather than pouncing on the speciality of the moment, Lemercier briefly documents it before moving on to the next round of prefabricated adulation. In the end, the show must go on. But rather than close on a personal note, her selflessness takes to song and once again hammers home the virtues of truth, justice, and the American way (by way of Canada). It’s not a movie, so much as it is television with subtitles. (2020) — Scott Marks
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