Infortune translates to "misfortune" or "bad luck." It's a more formal and poetic word than common alternatives, making it stand out in the lyrics.
In the song, Céline Dion sings, "Qu'il n'est pire infortune / Que de ne pas aimer" (That there is no worse misfortune / Than not to love). This powerful statement uses infortune to emphasize the profound sadness and emptiness of a life without love, making it a central theme of the song.
Céline Dion's "Et S'il N'en Restait Q'une (je Serais Celle-là)" is such a beautiful declaration of unwavering, romantic devotion! She's basically saying, if there was only one person left in the world who still believed in true love, who would embrace all its ups and downs, she would be that person.
She talks about being the one to "accepter les larmes" [accept the tears] and "se livrer sans arme / Aux griffes de l'amour" [surrender defenseless / To love's claws]. It's about being brave enough to dream under the moonlight with a lover and even foolishly trace "deux cœurs entrelacés" [two intertwined hearts] in the sand. She'd be the one to follow love to the ends of the earth, no questions asked, because for her, "il n'est pire infortune / Que de ne pas aimer" [there is no worse misfortune / Than not to love]. It's a powerful and really moving commitment to love in its purest, most dramatic form.
Céline Dion was born in Charlemagne, a small town outside Montreal, Quebec, Canada, the youngest of fourteen children in a musical family. She began performing as a child and was discovered by René Angélil, the manager who mortgaged his house to fund her first record and later became her husband; they married in 1994 and stayed together until his death from cancer in 2016.
Dion built her career on both sides of the language line, recording in French and English and turning ballads like "The Power of Love" and "My Heart Will Go On" into global standards. Albums such as Falling into You and Let's Talk About Love each sold more than thirty million copies, and for much of the 2000s and 2010s she headlined a Las Vegas residency at Caesars Palace that ran for well over a thousand shows. In 2022 she disclosed a diagnosis of Stiff Person Syndrome, a rare neurological condition, and has continued to speak publicly about living and performing with it.