Tina Arena: Unravel Me ★★★★
One of the most surprising moments in Tina Arena: Unravel Me, an intimate and expansive 86-minute feature documentary delving into the Italian-Australian pop star’s life and 50-year career, is when Arena says, “I was now in my 20s and, yeah, I was ready to go.”
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I → unravel → 20s
She’s talking about moving to France after The Mark of Zorro, a duet with Marc Anthony, became a massive hit there.
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Mark → talk → Anthony
But what’s surprising is hearing her age.
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’s → ’ → age
We’re nearly an hour into the film.
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We → ’re → film
Arena’s story as an artist, from capturing the nation’s hearts as a seven-year-old on Young Talent Time to topping the charts with a blockbuster film’s theme song, already feels like a lifetime’s work.
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story → capture → work
Directed by Adrian Russell Wills and written and produced by Jessica Carrera (Seriously Red), Tina Arena: Unravel Me is beautifully made.
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Arena → direct → Carrera
Encyclopaedic in its scope, it features straight-to-camera narration from Arena in two guises – “icon” and “woman” – representing the dualities of her life and career.
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it → feature → life
And as she talks, a cavalcade of detail from early home movies to archival TV footage, decades of music video clips, previous interviews and scenes from her current life and work help tell her story.
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decades → talk → story
Describing the profound effect of singing aged six to the crowd at a family wedding, she recalls running off in tears overwhelmed by the enthusiastic cheers and clapping.
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she → describe → cheers
But it was only a year or so later, she captured the nation’s hearts singing ABBA’s Ring Ring on Young Talent Time.
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she → capture → Time
One of the first Italians on Australian TV, her years on the show were a dream come true.
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years → come → show
But being a household name brought weighty levels of attention.
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being → bring → attention
Leaving YTT in the 1980s and embarking on a singing career in a male-dominated music industry led to muted success and increased pressures about her image and artistic choices.
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Leaving → leave → image
In the 1990s, the period with then-manager Ralph Carr (to whom she was married from 1995 to 1999) brought new energy.
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she → marry → energy
Arena’s breakout album, Don’t Ask, with its major hit Chains, brought several ARIA Awards.
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album → ask → Awards
Hits such as Burn followed but, as her marriage broke down, she realised “no one was burning for me”.
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one → follow → me
Carr was recently sentenced to six years in jail for a rape and sexual assault that occurred in 2022, but this isn’t discussed in the film.
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this → sentence → film
Arena said at the film’s premiere she does not know the victim but was supportive of the verdict.
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she → say → verdict
Being in France was life-changing for Arena.
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Being → change → Arena
She met her former long-term partner, French artist Vincent Mancini, with whom she had a son, Gabriel.
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she → meet → son
She released and performed successful French-English albums.
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She → release → albums
Celine Dion is shown raving about her love for Arena on a French TV program.
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Dion → show → program
And in 2011 Arena became the first Australian to receive a Knighthood of the Order of National Merit, an honour bestowed on her by France’s then president, Nicolas Sarkozy.
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Arena → become → president
It’s astonishing how much is packed into Tina Arena: Unravel Me.
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much → ’ → Me
Interviews with family, important collaborators and music industry figures add to the film’s vast scope.
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Interviews → add → scope
Occasionally, its timeframe is confusing as archival footage and Arena’s narration bounces between decades.
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narration → bounce → decades
But this is an extraordinary portrait of an artist who strove tirelessly, and successfully, to be herself.
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who → strive → artist
Arena is candid, funny, down-to-earth and often emotional as her journey unfolds.
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journey → unfold → ?
It’s a story told with grace and fire and wit.
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It → ’ → grace
Tina Arena: Unravel Me gets its free-to-air premiere at 7pm, October 18, on Seven and 7Plus.
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Me → get → Seven
We’ve got you.
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We → get → you
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Watchlist → get → ?
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Seen → see → world
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experiment → come → end
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you → watch → Dustfall
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