Filmed in Quebec in 1995, this concert souvenir captures Celine Dion as she turned the corner from pop contender to platinum princess. Long a star in Canada, and a major draw throughout the Francophone world, the Québecois vocalist was still a relatively new, if increasingly successful, commodity stateside. A clutch of single hits, augmented by two big soundtrack themes, hadn't entirely erased the suspicion that Dion's career was being bolted together on an assembly line not far from Mariah Carey's--apart from frequent overlaps in production support, both singers relied on similar mixtures of sweeping ballads and crisp, uptempo dance workouts, and both were notorious for their vocal gymnastics. The Colour of My Love works hard, as does Dion, to convince us she's already a major diva, and the approving crowd of hometown fans obviously agrees. Dion, her hair cropped in a shorter, curly 'do, is equally chic in black suit or blue gown, a troupe of dancers invades for strategic uptempo pieces, and her studio duet partners for both "When I Fall in Love"(Clive Griffin) and "Beauty and the Beast" (Peabo Bryson) pop up to repeat their roles. The star attacks each song with laser-like focus, and she radiates a sense of theatrical drama.
Technically, however, the special suffers from direction that mistakes swooping camera movement, sudden zoom shots, tilted frames, and other concert video clichés for real drama. More problematic is abundant evidence of considerable post-production sweetening in the star's vocals--like other post-rock divas with arena-sized ambitions, Dion (or perhaps her producer) is apparently determined to reproduce the surreal sonic precision and scale of the records. It's a slippery slope that tempts perfectionists to leave less and less of the actual performance on the soundtrack, even though Dion's huge voice would still be impressive (and possibly more exciting) if rendered without such editorial tweaks. --Sam Sutherland
