Julian Schnabel's new film, "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly," appears to be channeling Roman Polanski. Check it out: the lead, Mathieu Amalric, resembles the young Polanski, and the lead's "wife" is played by Polanski's spouse, Emmanuelle Seigner. At least one scene (specifically, Jean-Do on the small square "dock" in the sea) reminded me of Polanski's first public short, "Two Men and a Wardrobe." And the memoir was adapted by Ron Harwood, who won an Oscar for his screenplay of Polanski's "The Pianist" (but the surreal thing about this is that Schnabel came on long after producer Kathleen Kennedy hired Harwood--it was Johnny Depp, whom she had first approached for the lead, who had expressed interested in the part and recommended Schnabel to her, per Kennedy at a screening and Q & A I attended November 10).
In any case, the film is audacious, grueling, and beautiful in both cinematic and painterly ways. And has a great soundtrack to boot, with songs by Tom Waits, Lou Reed, U2, and Joe Strummer.
In any case, the film is audacious, grueling, and beautiful in both cinematic and painterly ways. And has a great soundtrack to boot, with songs by Tom Waits, Lou Reed, U2, and Joe Strummer.