Netflix’s new documentaryAmerican Symphonyfollows 37-year-old Batiste and Jaouad, 35, as she faced a hospitalization due to acancer recurrencein 2022. The return of the cancer came as Batiste prepared to debut an original symphony, titledAmerican Symphony, at New York City’s Carnegie Hall in September of that year.
A scene from the film, exclusive to PEOPLE, shows Batiste and Jaouad, who tied the knot in February 2022, walking through the halls of a hospital during her chemotherapy treatment. They amuse each other with a game of Simon Says, each copying the others' moves.
“I feel a strong, strong, strong desire to take the pain away. But I can’t,” the Grammy winner can be heard saying in a voiceover. “This is a moment, a test, and it’s nobody’s fault, and nobody can control it.”
Suleika Jaouad and Jon Batiste in ‘American Symphony’.Courtesy of Netflix
Courtesy of Netflix
“That’s us,” Batiste recently told PEOPLE of his dynamic with his wife, as shown in their game of Simon Says in the new clip.
American Symphonymeets Batiste after hereceived 11 Grammy nominationsin November 2021 for his albumWe Are, and as he embarked on composing his symphony for a performance at Carnegie Hall.
Jon Batiste in ‘American Symphony’.Courtesy of Netflix
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“This extraordinary trajectory is upended when Batiste’s life partner — best-selling author Suleika Jaouad — learns that her long-dormant cancer has returned,” reads an official synopsis for the film, adding that it depicts “a portrait of two inimitable artists at a crossroads and a profound meditation on art, love, and the creative process.”
“We initially planned to make a process film about Jon’s American Symphony but life intervened when Jon got nominated for eleven Grammys and Suleika got re-diagnosed with cancer,” Heineman tells PEOPLE of how the movie changed during production. “American Symphonybecame a beautiful meditation on what it means to be an artist and to persevere during tough times and good times.”
Suleika Jaouad in ‘American Symphony’.Courtesy of Netflix
“I’ve truly never met people who know themselves so well,” the filmmaker adds of Batiste and Jaouad. “And despite all of the points at which they could deviate from being who they are, they both stay radically, inescapably authentic. That was a beautiful thing to capture and it’s something I hope people take away. As Jon would say, ‘Be yourself.’ "
American Symphonymade its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival in August. The moviebegins streaming on Netflix Wednesday.
source: people.com
