The documentary is a punishing, achingly honest watch that has Dion sitting viewers down and telling it like it is: This is tough, and I am doing my best., an equal parts gorgeous and grueling account of how a rare neurological disease known as Stiff Person Syndrome has shaken one of pop music’s longest-standing pillars. And it’s Dion’s unfailing resistance to a diagnosis that many would rightfully accept lying down that’ll likely linger the longest.
Those final fifteen minutes begin with Dion experiencing a series of frustrating fits of stops and starts in her makeshift studio in 2022. She’s recording “Love Again,” the title track of a 2023 romcom of the same name and, for a while, struggles to get a take she’s proud of. Over and over again, she croons: “Summer rain, day by day/sadness fades, the wound is healing.” Finally, she gets it right.
“If I can’t get stimulated by what I love, and then I’m gonna go on onstage and like, you’re gonna put the pulse oximeter on me and you’re gonna turn me on my back?” she asks the doctor. Her desperation to return to performing live—even seconds after an episode as traumatizing as that one—is frankly, devastating.
Regardless, Dion and her team are clearly committed to her recovery and return to the stage. The film chronicles other frustrating fits of stops and starts, too. Finding a way to sing despite the disorder is one thing, but living with it—more generally speaking—is another entirely. Audiences see her revisit her memories on stage, retreat further into seclusion—her closest companions being her three sons and her staff—and reel over the loss of a life she loved.
Apart from one day returning to the stage, Dion isn’t making any hard-and-fast promises—only bargains with her body. Odds aside, many, many people are betting on her.June 25, 2024 | 12:30pm