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'The Power of Love': new Céline Dion authorized biopic announced

The film will be hitting the big screens in 2020.
Melody Lau ·
Canadian icon Celine Dion attending the 2019 Spring-Summer Haute Couture collection fashion show by Alexandre Vauthier in Paris. (Stephane De Sakutin)

The Power of Love, a music biopic that will take a look at the life of Canadian icon Céline Dion, has just been announced.

The $23 million film, which is slated to hit theatres in 2020 according to Variety, has been authorized by Dion and her record company, and will be directed by Valerie Lemercier, who will also star as the singer. The film will be produced by French studio Gaumont. The Power of Love will reportedly chronicle Dion's life from "her birth and modest upbringing in Quebec in the 1960s to her extraordinary rise to fame as a teen," as well as her longtime releationship with her late manager and husband, René Angélil.

Lemercier is a French actress-turned-director who has starred and directed films such as Palais royal!, The Ultimate Accessory and, most recently, 2017's Marie-Francine. Lemercier told Variety she was drawn to this project because of the way Dion dealt with the 2016 death of Angélil, which prompted her to dive deeper into the singer's life. "I discovered the strength of their love story and their great humour, and I better understood how the alchemy of their ... individual ambitions made an unwanted, little girl the greatest star on the planet," she said.

This news comes in the midst of a busy awards season that has focused on some big musical releases, including the Lady Gaga-starring A Star is Born, the Don Shirley film Green Book and Bohemian Rhapsody, which looks at the life of Queen frontman Freddie Mercury. Gaumont's Cécile Gaget, head of international production at the studio, told the Guardian this upcoming Dion film will be "in the vein of [forthcoming Elton John biopic] Rocketman and Bohemian Rhapsody."

CBC Music has reached out to Dion's record label for further comment.

Below is a CBC Archives clip from 1993 of Dion telling Friday Night! host Ralph Benmergui about her musical upbringing.

Update: Gaumont has clarified, via Variety, that The Power of Love will "not be a biopic but a fictional 'homage' that draws heavily from the details of the singer's life." The film's protagonist will be named Aline but will go through a similar musical trajectory as Dion.