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But it is Michael's recounting of his first serious relationship with a man, Anselmo Feleppa, and Feleppa's death from AIDS in 1992, that packs the biggest punch of the film. Michael's understated expression of his feelings reveals an emotional undercurrent that transcends the clichéd “teary-eyed interview.”

With a combination of shyness and sweetness, Michael describes how he spotted Feleppa in the crowd at a concert in Brazil. He found him so distracting he avoided that side of the stage, but soon after fell head over heels in love for the first time in his life.

“For the first six months of our relationship, at least, I felt better than I had possibly in my life,” he says. The experience of love made Michael think for the first time about his feelings about being a gay man, and the nature of his closeted life. “It's hard to be proud of your own sexuality when it hasn't brought you any joy. Once it's associated with joy, and love, it's easy to be proud of who you are.”

The closet and the times combined to threaten Michael's new-found happiness, however, when Anselmo was diagnosed with AIDS. “I was about to become a grown up, and I wasn't prepared for it. I remember, I remember the moment that he told me about the test he'd been advised to have …. To this day I remember looking at the sky and saying ‘Don't you DARE do this to me.'

“Anselmo had the test over the Christmas period in Brazil. I went home to my family at Christmas, and sat at the Christmas table, not knowing whether my partner, whom the people sitting at the table did not know about, not knowing whether this man I was in love with was terminally ill, and therefore not knowing whether I potentially was terminally ill, and you're sitting there at Christmas and it was possibly the loneliest time of my life.”

One of the highlights of Michael's career was his performance at a tribute concert to singer Freddie Mercury, who had died of AIDS. Michael says that he was asked by the press for a quote on Mercury's death, and that he cried as he gave it, letting them think he was crying for Freddie when it was his own lover's illness that triggered the tears. The night of that history-making performance, which Feleppa attended, Michael says, “I had to honor Freddie Mercury, and I had to pray for Anselmo…. I had to hold onto that feeling, because I just wanted to die that night.”

After Feleppa's death in 1992, Michael went into a period of anger and depression. He channeled his hostility into a legal battle with record label Sony over the contract he signed, under duress, at the age of 18--a battle that was ultimately unsuccessful.

As Elton John comments, "To come out of the closet being busted in a toilet is not the best way to come out of the closet," but Michael discusses his forced 1998 coming out with good humor. He's somewhat less accepting of being Dixie-Chicked over his vocal opposition to the Iraq war, and blames that, as well as fallout from his battle with Sony, for his lack of visibility in the United States in recent years.

His current partner, American Kenny Goss, is interviewed both with and without Michael, and they're shown together at publicity events. Their on-screen affection for each other gives the last part of the film much of its charm, even as it covers Michael's painful grief at the loss of his mother and continuing battles with Sony.

Morris has gone far beyond the usual pop star biopic with this documentary. Part of this is due to Michael himself, and his shy mix of intelligence and self-deprecation. There's no doubt the singer has a troubled personal life providing at least some fire under all the smoke. But while longtime fans of Michael may have already known the other side of him, for most people, this really will be a different story.

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