"They will be shitty
towards me on the internet if I sing like that!"
Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas sit and record the next Bond song in the tour bus, stressed to catch up before her concert which is about to start.
A scene that speaks to what it's like to be a teenage celebrity today: Short deadlines and constantly exposed to the opinions of non-fans and their aunts.
Billie Eilish never smiles in a picture, has a spider as a pet and writes songs about feeling pissed.
Ever since she knocked the world and the streaming services with her debut album When we all fall asleep, where do we go ?, she has been criticized for and asked questions about her "depressing" music.
But as most people probably
still understand, she has not become popular
even
though she is not happy and agreeable, but
because
she is not.
She has captured the 20's teenage zeitgeist better than anyone else and has become a voice for her generation.
The generation growing up under alarming climate threats, populist politicians, pandemics and gig economics.
The documentary, directed by RJ Cutler, follows her from an unknown, homeschooled girl via song recordings in the bedroom with her brother, to the release of her debut album leading to global celebrity, Coachella gig and five Grammys.
A nice illustration of
this fast, unimaginable journey is how the cameras follow her relationship with Justin Bieber - and how it changes.
From a mega-belieber who could only dream of meeting his idol, Billie Eilish is suddenly contacted by Bieber himself, who asks for a musical collaboration.
A key scene, which shows how crazy crazy and fast everything goes, is when Billie Eilish has just been a drag on the super festival Coachella and is discovered on the lawn by Justin Bieber.
At first she does not dare to walk forward but after a while she lets herself be hugged, breaks down and cries in his arms while he pats her over the hair for several minutes.
The biggest benefit of the
documentary is that it actually manages to get close to Billie Eilish - as close as you can get to a slightly awkward teenager who may hardly know who she is and who is also in the middle of a success carousel of God's grace.
She is the most coveted on earth and attracted to everyone ("Billie Billie Billie is everything I hear every day!").
All?
No, not really everyone.
Her cashier boyfriend never responds to text messages and always seems to have something more important to him.
So Billie Eilish still feels lonely and sad, just like any non-priority girlfriend.
It would have been easy for
Cutler to wallow in that, or in how she tackles her tics and her Tourettes during the tours.
But the documentary constantly balances on the right side of intrusion and manages to make her human without getting naughty.
Instead, the film is above all a gripping love portrait of the family: the friendship and siblingship with brother and producer Finneas, and the absolutely wonderful, loving parents - constantly present, constantly worried, constantly proud.
More child stars would need parents like hers, so much for sure.
Best of all, though, is how
Cutler manages to show how vulnerable and strong she is at the same time.
That he understands that this is what took her to where she is, and that this is why the fans love her.
Tourettes, love trouble and self-harming behavior - but also determined, smart, funny, cool and bossy.
A real Bad Guy, quite simply.