Review: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

Directed: Julian Schnabel

Written: Ronald Harwood and Jean-Dominique Bauby(novel)

Starring: Mathieu Amalric

For the majority of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly we see through the eyes of Jean-Dominique Bauby editor of Elle magazine. When we aren't seeing things through his eyes we are seeing things he remembers or imagines. "Other than my eye, two things aren't paralyzed, my imagination and my memory. " Bauby says as he lays in a hospital bed, completely paralyzed except for his left eye. How did he get in this position? Jean-Dominique Bauby had a stroke at the age of 43 and ended up with the very rare "locked in" syndrome, a syndrome in which the patient retains almost all memory and recognition but remains paralyzed. Through a system developed for those with locked in syndrome, Bauby can communicate by blinking. At first they use the simple system of "One blink means yes." and "Two blinks mean no." Eventually a system is worked out where a person works with Bauby by reading out an alphabet in order of how commonly a letter is used. Bauby blinks when they read the letter he wants and they can eventually form whole words and sentences. It was this system that allowed Bauby to make his memoir "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly". This provided an insiders view of "locked in" syndrome and when the memoirs were adapted into film the "insiders view" is absolutely retained. When I say "see through the eyes" of Jean-Dominique Bauby I mean it in a very literal way. As in, we see every time he blinks, we see his eyelids being sewn shut, and we hear his inner monologue desperate to speak out. It is these portions of the movie with their cinematography that make the film literally one of the most involving movies I have ever seen.

Not only do we get to see Bauby's time in the hospital, we also see flashbacks of his life as the rockstar-like womanizing editor of Elle magazine and of his life as a loving father to his children. I felt a deep feeling of sadness after seeing a flashback of Bauby so vibrant and full of life, and then cut back to him after the stroke with a lifeless expression on his face. Bauby's inner monologue serves as the films narration as we see him visit his kids, see his friends, make friends with his stenographer, and even see his condition improve. We see all these moments of his life and they are countered with the voice telling us how he longs to play with his children or make love to a woman. This provided a much more emotionally effective experience than I anticipated and could even leave more sensitive viewers shaken by how intense the emotion can become. Mathieu Amalric does a good job as Jean-Dominique Bauby but in all honesty there is not a lot that he does that isn't a testament to the excellent writing. Do not take this the wrong way, he was better than decent, but the writing and narration are the real stars of the movie and I don't see a lot that Mathieu adds to those things since he spends the majority of the film off screen.

Julian Schnabel shows off some very impressive direction in Diving Bell. The style of the movie being pulled off this well overall is not something that is common in even some of the artsiest corners of cinema. The film essentially became his baby and he has taken very good care of it. Interestingly enough the screenplay adapted from Bauby's memoirs by Ronald Harwood was written completely in English, it was not until Schnabel came aboard that the decision to film the movie in Bauby's native tongue of French was even put on the table. It is such a sad sight to see Bauby's condition improve in the later half of the film only to see him quickly be taken away by pneumonia. Thank God he could finish his memoirs and that they could be adapted into this magnificent film. Lots of movies like to take a long hard look at the human psyche and give their take on it. The difference between those films and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is that in this film, the human psyche is taking a long hard look at us from the inside, and for the first time we get to see through his eyes.

9.7/10