The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is a true story about Elle power player Jean-Dominique Bauby who suffered a severe cerebral-vascular accident that resulted in a rare condition known even in French as “locked-in syndrome.” He is completely paralyzed save for one eyelid, but fully alert and conscious. His only means of communication is through blinking that eye. In his 1997 book of the same name, Jean-Do (as he prefers) vividly likens this condition to being trapped, semi-buoyant, in a diving bell beneath the water. Think about the heavy brass suit with a hose to the surface. No words can be heard, no movement made. It is, understandably, a place of great loneliness and despair. Thanks to the staff at the hospital in which he resides, particularly speech therapist Henriette Durand and transcriber Claude Mendibil, he is able to write his story; the despair he must have felt is transmuted into a beautiful story which director Julian Schabel shares with us.
Mathieu Almaric plays Jean-Do in his current state as well as in flashbacks, and he narrates when the camera is placed in his point of view. He is tasked with giving life to a frozen man, and with his left eye spinning wildly in its socket like that of a slaughterhouse cow, he achieves this miracle. His awakening from his coma at the beginning of the movie is an arresting and hypnotic sequence. You think, “that was a cool way to start the movie,” but the point-of-view keeps going and going. As the movie progresses, external shots and flashbacks increase, but this camera inside Jean-Do’s head is prevalent and incredible.
Perhaps it is this choice alone that made the movie so hypnotic for me - his vision blurred by tears, the silent blink of “yes” when even you the audience are screaming to be able to say more. The mute fire of this man is palpable and blazes through his frustrated thoughts (voice over). There are times when it seems impossible that a camera could even be present, the surroundings are so perfectly interior to a man. Director of photography Janusz Kaminski (Schindler’s List, Saving Private Ryan, a million other gorgeous movies) proves that he is a cinematographical force to be reckoned with. I predict a 3rd Oscar for him this year.
As a story of a man locked inside a meat bag of regrets and unfinished business, Le Scaphandre et le Papillon is arresting and positive. The beautiful women (in his life professionally and personally) who flutter in and out of his field of view pull life through him. But it is his uniquely human need to communicate it all before it is too late that truly sets him free. Screenwriter Ronald Harwood (Being Julia, The Pianist) turns this first person novel into an intensely first person movie. It’s a gorgeous and transfixing movie - please see it.
MPAA Rating PG-13
Release date 5/27/07
Time in minutes 112
Director Julian Schnabel
Studio Miramax
