The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007) User Reviews

The films places you inside the author's head and keeps you there.

[forindcine · 9/10 · 15 December 2007]

Earlier this year, a good friend, avid reader and film buff informed me that one of her favorite books was the basis for a film which recently won awards at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival. I knew nothing of the novel or the film so she offered me the book to read. I enjoyed the story but didn't completely appreciate its depth until I recently got a sneak peek at the film.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is about Jean-Dominique Bauby, (Mathieu Amalric) a popular editor of the French fashion magazine 'Elle.' At age 43 he is stricken with a stroke leaving him with lock-in syndrome, a medical condition that, except for his left eye, rendered him completely immobile. In fear of his right eye becoming "septic" doctors quickly stitched the eye shut.

This sealing of that eye is an early scene, which is so perfectly shot that it places you inside Bauby's head and body, and keeps you there for the entire film. You see the world as he views it while desiring to be free of the paralyzing feeling of a sinking diving bell. At other times, with his imagination, you find yourself fluttering as free as a butterfly.

Bauby wrote his story with the use of a unique sequence of letters specifically designed so he could blink his eye to communicate as he created every single word of his story.

This film is in no way depressing. The cinematography is brilliantly captured. Everyone was completely captivated by the screenplay as we experienced life deep inside Bauby's body, mind and soul. For the entire 2+ hours, you won't want to be anyplace else.

What movies should be

[wisewebwoman · 9/10 · 19 January 2008]

The best film so far - that I've seen - in 2008. A totally artistic endeavour that succeeds on every level. Expecting a somewhat depressing movie, I found it to be the exact opposite. Uplifting, joyful, and inspirational while showing a man (played by Mathieu Amalric) completely paralyzed, apart from the ability to blink his left eye.

There is a seamless blend of cinematography with the music to enhance the inner life of the main character, the viewer is at one with his inner frustration, his soaring imagination, his follies, faults and lusts. At times it is humorous, at others there are indelible vignettes - one of the long term partner (beautfully played by EmmanuelleSeigner) assisting his lover to communicate with him by telephone. Another is the incredible Max Von Sydow in a riveting performance as the elderly heart-broken father.

The film is based on a true story and it must have been an enormous challenge to bring this story to the screen. Julian Schnabel directed the amazing cast and brought an artistry to the project that is extremely rare in film making. To capture the world as seen through the eye of a paralyzed man and make it so fascinating took enormous skill.

I was captivated and enchanted and would definitely see it again. 9 out of 10. Not to be missed.

One of the best films I've seen for a while

[Chris_Docker · 9/10 · 9 February 2008]

How much do we really communicate? Can you tell me what you're thinking? What you're feeling? Not an approximation, but exactly? To find a common language, a window of trust, and to communicate experience! To see inside the mind of an artist. Or for the artist, ours. If we find that common wavelength, can we dive in? Let the 'butterfly' take flight from its dark chrysalis? The interior world of another. The inscrutable depth of another person's individuality.

The first movie I saw by neo-expressionist painter Julian Schnabel was Before Night Falls. In that film, the artist was trapped in prison, quite literally. Which presented great communication difficulties for him (in giving life to his novel in the world). In this film, we have examples of people trapped or imprisoned in different ways. A man who had been taken hostage in Beirut. An ailing father who has difficulty climbing stairs to and from his apartment. Both are trying to reach out to the main protagonist. Bauby. An amazing and successful socialite who's in his very own 'prison.' Bauby has secured a publishing contract when tragedy hits. A stroke causes 'locked in' syndrome and he reviews his options as an author. The book he writes, and on which this film is based, is the one he is remembered for. I haven't read it. But his powers of expression, glimpsed in the film, make me want to buy it. The book he nearly wrote - a re-write of the Count of Monte Cristo - would probably be pulped. (But I wonder if that was poetic embellishment - Dumas was the first person to describe locked in syndrome in the person of Monsieur Noirtier de Villeforte, a Cristo character).

How many people know of Jean-Dominique Bauby, former editor of Elle fashion magazine? It doesn't matter. But what does matter is experiencing his ability to discern, his articulate vision of beauty. Not as science, but as an education of the senses (and this is a sensuous and evocative film).

Why is The Diving Bell and the Butterfly so successful? A French language film picking up four Oscar nominations is remarkable. (The American director insisted on authenticity and made it in France and in French.) I suspect the consummate vocabulary of metaphor it uses is partly responsible. It makes the challenge facing Bauby a global one and relevant to everyone's life. None of us communicates perfectly, after all. Words left unsaid, to friends, to lovers, because we didn't find the 'right' words.

The speech therapist who breaks through Bauby's barrier is excellent. Her motivation is, here is a man she respects and admires. It is also the biggest challenge of her career. Bauby's sense of humour, voiced as interior dialogue, is scathing. His lecherous thoughts about the therapist are tempered with good taste and his incorrect jokes about his own condition.

Bauby starts to write his novel and his sense of poetry bursts through. We feel a glimmer of a mental rush associated with artists, explorers and adventurers. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is the adventure of life and death. Not in Hollywood terms with big explosions. But with sensitivities, with meanings. It has a 'reach out and touch' quality. A Laughing Buddha whose joke we've missed (but might catch on another occasion). It is the most awesomely beautiful film I have seen for a long while.

Schnabel's thing might be helping us taste something we might otherwise let go unnoticed. In Basquiat, he introduced many people to the artist Basquiat, but also to the revered and misunderstood Warhol. (And if you want to understand someone as weird as Warhol, understanding the contemporaneous – and only slightly weird - Basquiat is maybe a good place to start.) Here, his insight is transcendent. The film is a work of art. About a work of art. The use of visual metaphor and an excellent script lets us use Bauby's condition symbolically. Ingenious editing keeps us on the edge of our seat, especially towards the resolution, as we race to work out how a drive in the countryside will end.

The only scene I could find a flaw in was where he shaves his father. The sound of the rasping blade as he shaved his dad troubled me – if it was added afterwards I think it was overdone and distracting. But the scene was an emotional building block. And much of our story is told like this, through flashbacks. With his beautiful ex-wife. With his children. With his lover. And with his father. People with whom, like most of us, he still has one or two little unresolved issues. They made me wonder if we make too little effort to communicate when it seems easy to do so.

The film successfully mixes a down-to-earth style, great special effects to see through Bauby's one remaining eye, and jaw-dropping montage. As we observe mundane details of our hero's life falling apart or reaching fulfilment, the camera cuts to ice fields collapsing into the sea or winding back in reverse motion. Or there will be a sudden switch to sensuality as he guzzles wine and oysters in a swank restaurant, feeding and being fed by his lover. Janusz Kaminski, the cinematographer for countless Steven Spielberg's, excels, as does Oscar-winning screenwriter Ronald Harwood.

It should perhaps be noted that the film has not been immune to attempted high-jacks by groups with their own agendas. The Catholic News Service hailed its 'life-affirming qualities' compared to another great film it denigrates, The Sea Inside. Although locked-in state is a rare condition, few individuals experiencing it are likely to have the wealth and resources, public acclaim and reason to live that Bauby had. The situation of Ramon Sanpedro (The Sea Inside) might be a more common one.

Cinematic Art achieved

[23pictures · 10/10 · 9 November 2007]

One of the best films in years, and in artistic cinematic terms, one of the best films I've ever seen. That's a heavy statement to make, but off the top of my head, I cannot think of another film that explores the inner workings of a character so intimately and believably, while blending cinematography, sound effects, and musical score in such harmony -- but in a fashion we (as American's at least) are not trained to enjoy. I felt the French influence strongly cinematically and, of course in the dialogue, but the writing and acting was so fluid it felt like the subtitles weren't even there.

The film deals with a rare physical condition, and I was physically there with the character from start to finish. I felt each moment as if it were my own. That is a rare accomplishment in cinema. Julian Schnabel directed a stellar cast. Mathieu Amalric was unusually charming as Jean-Dominique Bauby, and Max Von Sydow was heartbreaking as his lonely widower father. The female leads were all equally impressive as they were beautiful. I don not mean to generalize them, but they were all so excellent that they blend seamlessly in my mind, in terms of performance.

Overall, this film was as pure a cinematic experience as I've witnessed in a long time. A true artist turns out a film that is truly a piece of art. Julian Schnabel takes his time in between films, but with work like this, there's no need to rush. Like a good painting, one can enjoy it for a lifetime.

A film of enormous power

[howard.schumann · 10/10 · 12 January 2008]

Though not paralyzed from head to toe like French fashion magazine editor Jean-Dominique Bauby, many of us are in the "locked-in" syndrome – locked into our resentments and our fears, a rigidity that sours us on life and keep us estranged from family and friends. Julian Schnabel's masterful The Diving Bell and the Butterfly allows us to better appreciate the simple pleasures in life by dramatizing the debilitating trauma faced by the 43-year old editor who suffered a massive stroke that left him unable to speak or to move his head and whose only means of communication was to blink one eye – one blink for yes, two blinks for no.

Beautifully shot by cinematographer Janusz Kaminski with a screenplay by Ronald Harwood, the film begins with Bauby's confused awakening in the hospital after twenty days in a coma. We see only a blur of images and claustrophobic close-ups that mirror the patient's mental state. We can make out a hospital room and doctors and nurses offering reassuring thoughts. We hear Bauby's words but the doctors do not and we know that while his body isn't functioning, his mind is as sharp as ever. With the help of a speech therapist (Marie-Josée Croze), and a very patient transcriber, a code is developed that allows Bauby (Mathieu Amalric), called Jean-Do by his friends and family, to compose a book based on his experience.

When the therapist recites the most-frequently used letters in the French alphabet, Bauby blinks when he wants to choose a letter. The book, on which the film is based, was published in 1997, shortly after Bauby's death. One of the most dramatic moments in the film occurs near the beginning when the first thought Jean-Do communicates is that he wants to die. Feeling rejected and angry, the therapist stomps out of the room but apologizes and comes back shortly to resume the treatment. We do not actually see Jean-Do until about a third of the way through the film but we can hear his thoughts which are in turn angry, funny, and bitterly ironic. Bauby compares his body to a deep-sea diver being suffocated in a diving suit and his poetic imagination to a butterfly.

It is Jean-Do's sense of humor that keeps the film as light as it can be under the circumstances and his eloquence that keeps us riveted. When we finally do see him with his immobile body and his drooping lower lip, it is still a shock but we smile when he says that "I look like I came out of a vat of formaldehyde." Much of the film vividly explores the editor's imagination and the camera takes us on some wild rides that include images of Nijinsky, Empress Eugénie, Marlon Brando, and Jean-Do in his imagination skiing and surfing. Some of the most emotional moments occur when he greets his young children at the beach for the first time after his stroke, a telephone "conversation" with his 92-year old father (Max Von Sydow), and flashbacks to his youth - driving with his girlfriend, shaving his father, supervising a fashion shoot, and taking his son on a trip in a new sports car. Bauby's wife Céline (Emmanuelle Seigner), whom he left for exotic girlfriend Ines (Agathe de La Fontaine), visits him in the hospital and comforts him while Ines cannot bring herself to see him, saying that she wants to remember him the way he was.

Realizing how his life had been less than exemplary, his stroke becomes an opportunity for redemption and allows him, if not to cleanse his soul, to discover that humanity lies in his consciousness not in material things or sexuality. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is a film of enormous power that shakes us and enables us to get in touch with the miracle of each moment. Schnabel says that his purpose in making the film was to tell "the story of all of us, who surely do face death and sickness. But if we look", he says, "we can find meaning and beauty here." There is enough of both meaning and beauty to make The Diving Bell and the Butterfly one of the best films of the year.

Do yourself a favor

[bbrown8870 · 9/10 · 2 January 2008]

The inadequacies of the descriptions of this movie emphasize the gulf between the written (or spoken) word and the work of art itself. I could write all the spoilers and it wouldn't make a difference, because the riveting quality here doesn't depend on plot surprises. It is the improbable story, a story that will touch you and then executed by actors who seem like their lives depend on being true to the story.

This is an anti-Hollywood, anti-formula movie. Those have their place, but this is a great antidote to the silly decisions made by inappropriately powerful studio execs.

See it. You'll be thankful you did.

Diving Bell and the Butterfly

[rajdoctor · 8/10 · 18 September 2007]

When I saw the trailer of this French movie for the first time, nothing appealed to me. Second time, I thought the director had used very good and innovative camera angles. Later I read about the story and I got hooked to see this movie. I do not understand French or the Dutch sub-titles. My friends are amazed at my zeal to still go and see a movie with no language orientation.

This is a true biographical sketch of a French Journalist Jean-Dominique Bauby (Mathieu Amalric) who was also the editor of magazine ELLE. In 1995, he had a heart stroke and that left him fully paralyzed with a rare condition – lock-in syndrome. This is his story from his eye view. Despite his condition, he authored a book by blinking his left eye-lid when a correct alphabet was uttered by a person. It is a painful process to write a book with such a pace. Not only for Jean but it requires enormous patience from the side of the one scripting the alphabet to form words and sentences. Jean died 3 days after the book was published.

Who else could have made the movie but a very sensitive and artistic person – it is an American artist / painter and now Director Julian Schnabel. This is his third movie and he has hit the right chords to draw the vast canvas. In the first couple of minutes we are all set for what is to follow. The fantastic capture of real eye angle camera movements from the vision of Jean is incredibly real. For first 20 minutes the audience only sees what Jean sees, but when the camera slowly comes out of Jean's eyes and sees Jean objectively – every time I felt like going back to the heart and soul of Jean's eye vision. It is so wonderful and sensitive.

Mathieu Amalric has played the character of Jean with so authentication that it is hard to believe and separate his self from the real character.

The most wonderful part that remains with you after the movie is the sense of humor with which Jean sees this world. He remains light hearted at times and thinks hilarious comments even in the most painful state of his being.

I would also like to mention the two supporting characters who render Jean's words on paper. It is the patience and sensitivity of characters that is touching and those roles are beautifully portrayed by two well known Canadian and French actresses – Marie Josee Croze (former writer) and Anne Consigny (latter writer) respectively.

The photography is superb. The camera angles as I mentioned are innovative and treat to watch. Hats off to Julian Schnabel in gifting the world of cinema a rare gem! When good cinema touches your soul – language disappears! (Stars 7.5 out of 10)

Somewhere beyond the sea, somewhere waiting for me...

[Benedict_Cumberbatch · 29 February 2008]

American painter turned director Julian Schnabel loves biopics of extraordinary artists. His feature debut, "Basquiat" (1996), was an interesting portrait of the troubled painter (played by Jeffrey Wright). His second film, "Before Night Falls" (2000), was even better, and told the story of Cuban poet/novelist Reinaldo Arenas (the magnificent Javier Bardem). His new film, "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly", surpasses his previous efforts and is nothing short of a masterpiece, for lack of a better word. This time, though, his "artist" is a successful 43 year-old man, Elle magazine editor Jean-Dominique Bauby (Mathieu Amalric), a bon-vivant who becomes a victim of the so-called "locked-in syndrome" after a sudden stroke. His mental faculties are intact, but he can't move anything but his left eyelid. With the help of a speech therapist, he struggles to write his memoirs, by blinking letter by letter and letting her write what he wants to say.

Saying more about the plot would spoil the wonderful experience of watching "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly". The camera angles/visuals are breathtaking (courtesy of two-time Oscar winning cinematographer Janusz Kaminski), and in some moments he makes us see everything from Bauby's point of view. In spite of Bauby's disability, the film is never overly melodramatic, being similar to (but even better than) "The Sea Inside" and "My Left Foot". The cast is fantastic, from Amalric to screen legend Max von Sydow, and the beautiful women in Jean-Do's life (Marie-Josée Croze, Anne Consigny and Emmanuelle Seigner, among others). The soundtrack is also memorable, including Charles Trenet's wondrous "La Mer" (which was recorded by Bobby Darin in English as "Beyond the Sea"). "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" won the Golden Globes for best director and foreign film, and got four Oscar nominations (director, adapted screenplay, editing and cinematography - but NOT Best Foreign Film). France made the mistake of submitting the (fantastic) animation "Persepolis" instead of "Diving Bell", but they should know the Academy would never give Best Foreign Film for an animated movie, as good as it might be, and therefore neither of them got the nomination. But that's actually the Academy's fault for their stupid rules, since France should've been allowed to submit both movies. What if two of the best foreign movies of the year were from the same country? In a perfect world, there would be only a Best Picture category and films from any country and any language would be nominated, but since most people still ignore subtitles, this 'segregation' has to exist. Oh well. Oscar blunders apart, this is a film that will make you see and value the beauty of life. Bravo, Mr. Schnabel! Bravo, Monsieur Bauby! 10/10.

Overworks its mechanics

[oneloveall · 6/10 · 15 May 2008]

Another example of how tremendous critical praise drowns out a reasonable film. By no means was it terrible, it was just nowhere near the level of authentic inspiration I was led to believe. Schnabel takes this based-on-a-true-story dealing with a paralyzed man and his one eye blink of communication and milks it for everything it is worth.

There is definitely some innovative techniques being tossed around when the director is filming the early coma-scenes from the patient's perspective, though I would struggle to call these groundbreaking or truly unique.

What kills some of the momentum and genuine emotion eventually is an unfortunate repetition that appears after we witness this nurses aide reciting the alphabet in French for the hundredth time, seemingly put in yet again to reiterate the struggle which Schnabel has already helped deaden.

Inspiration

[mistarkus · 8/10 · 28 December 2007]

The immersion into the life of a man that is a part of a horrific event, where just about all seems lost and where he becomes literally trapped with in his own body can be heart-achingly depressing, however, it was actually, due to poetic direction, a mesmerizing, stylistic and somewhat uplifting story. The air was a little sweeter, after the viewing since life becomes more appreciated. This movie helps you appreciate the finer things in life and realize all that we take for granted.

Giving the film a surreal feel as though in a dream we witness a collage of memories, imaginations and actual dreams. From this, along with actual visits from loved ones we get an understanding of the man's life before the accident. It is filmed from the stroke victim's point of view. You see exactly what he sees, such as when his eye gets weak and things get blurry. We are also exposed to the man's thoughts as we hear him talking to the people about his feelings and what he wants to say despite being mute, and not being heard by the people. His thoughts give realness to the character and show us that he is still human. He even finds humor in his situation and says, to the nurse that doesn't hear him, "you need to get a sense of humor".

Overall a message about life. At the peak of this mans life an extremely severe paralysis befalls him. At first understandably pitying himself he is able to find some humor in his situation, (and parts of the movie actually make you laugh) and then inspiration. Inspiration stemming from realization that his imagination and memory are in tact. He can feel good using his mind and can even be creative and productive.

Same old story of the human condition, told in a masterful way

[rooprect · 7/10 · 9 February 2012]

The story is as old as humanity itself: how do we survive within the limitations of our disposable physical bodies? Here it is illustrated in an extreme sense of a man afflicted with "locked-in syndrome" (completely paralyzed yet perfectly aware). It is based on a true story.

What makes it interesting is that it's not your standard tale of overcoming adversity, not like "A Beautiful Mind" or "Shine" or "My Left Foot". Instead it focuses on *dealing with* adversity, anticlimactic as that may seem. In particular, it highlights the power of imagination.

This permits the camera to indulge in lots of fantasy sequences, and therein lies the power of this film. In that respect it's similar to the Terry Gilliam film "The Fisher King", the Peter Jackson film "Beautiful Creatures", the Rebecca Miller film "Angela", and the obscure Japanese masterpiece "Shiki-Jitsu" (Ritual), all of which focus on the protagonist's ability to slip into a dream world to overcome physical or situational limitations. It's a tale as old as the sun, but what makes it fresh each time is the creative way in which it's presented.

Here the film's creativity comes by way of first person perspective. Most of the time the camera shows us the viewpoint of the afflicted man, putting the audience literally into his mind. It's effective at conveying his frustrations, desires and hopes as if they are our own. The soundtrack helps us along by giving us gorgeous orchestrations, then suddenly stopping cold when the character comes back to reality.

You definitely have to be in the right frame of mind for this experience. If you're looking more for a clearcut plot & story, you'll probably be disappointed because the plot of this movie is basically what I said in the first paragraph. Not much more. It remains deliberately vague on several points, like the significance of certain people in his life, and exactly who the man was before his accident. But I think that's the director's intent... it's a film about imagination, so isn't it fitting for the audience to use its imagination to fill in the gaps?

A moving story told in an intriguing fashion

[simonlitton · 8/10 · 23 August 2007]

Saw this last night in Brussels (it's been on release for a while now). I was worried that it would be arty and depressing, but I was pleasantly surprised by how absorbing and moving it was. The opening scenes are striking, and communicate well the main character's feelings of claustrophobia and helplessness in the immediate aftermath of his accident, but as he attempts to rebuild his life and learn how to communicate, the film (and the visual style) opens up, even making room for some welcome flashes of humour. Performances are excellent, but the real stars here are the writer(s) and director, for taking us so convincingly into the character's world.

Not so great.

[Amyth47 · 6/10 · 24 April 2019]

My Rating : 6/10

Watchable, bearable, slow-paced movie that isn't worthy of its 8.0 IMDb Rating. It's an OK film. I was expecting more emotional scenes but that's not the case.

Yes, it makes the case for a man trapped inside his body which is completely paralysed except his one eye and parts of his mouth though unable to speak.

I liked how the film is not a complete bore-fest. Watch it if you are in the mood for it - it's not exactly a happy film.

Beautifully Directed Lies - This Film is Pure Libel

[edog101 · 1/10 · 7 August 2009]

A film professing to be based upon a true story should stay true to the story. This one does not. I was so moved by the film after watching it last night, I decided to do some research on Jean-Dominique Bauby. And what did I discover? The truth is, the filmmakers took some serious liberties with the truth, portraying Mr. Bauby's girlfriend as a narcissistic flake who couldn't bring herself to visit her paralyzed lover, while at the same time glorifying the mother of his children as the steadfast, dutiful companion who remained loyal despite Bauby's love for another woman. In fact, the opposite is true. Bauby's girlfriend was constantly by his side, while the mother of his children visited him perhaps three or four times in total. She was traveling with her boyfriend in America when Bauby died in his girlfriend's arms.

The real story, as represented in the book and by Bauby's friends, was needlessly altered by the filmmakers. One can only imagine the very real pain and harm the filmmakers have caused to the people who were there for Bauby during his final years. The liberties taken are libel, no doubt about it, and it is a testament to the integrity of the real heroine, Florence, that she has not sued over the abhorrent way in which she is portrayed by this piece of pointlessly subversive garbage.

Furthermore, Bauby never asked to die--not once. His speech therapist apparently refused to see the film after reading the lies in the script. The filmmakers apparently have respect neither for the living, nor the dead.

I feel cheated by this film. In fact, I feel sick to my stomach. The real story is just as interesting, and equally inspiring--if not more so. Knowing the truth about this film gives one a sense for why collective society is mistaken about so many things. We can thank the arrogance of the entertainment industry--which now includes the news networks--for our ignorance. We must be diligent in our skepticism, and tenacious in our pursuit of the truth. Reality is the only source of true wisdom and understanding.

I wish others felt as offended by this film as I do. Disgusting and beneath contempt.

Release Yourself From the Diving Bell and Free Like a Butterfly

[samuelding85 · 8/10 · 3 February 2008]

The former France ELLE editor Jean-Dominique Bauby quoted his life as being trapped in a diving bell and free like a butterfly, and that was how he describes his life after a stroke left him only able to blink his left eye. The Diving Bell and The Butterfly has become the title of his memoirs, which has become a best seller which Bauby will never get to see.

American born director Julian Schnabel picked up the memoir and made it into a movie that will re-examine the way a person will view his life. From the way the movie was presented to the audience, it might seems to be difficult to digest, but if you watch them once again, you will find that the flow of the movie follows closely to what is written on the book.

The story begins with Jean Dominique (Mathieu Amalric) finding himself woke up in a hospital,unable to move his body. Upon hearing from the doctor that a stroke left him unable to move, except his left eye, he found himself trapped in a prison: his body. He describes his body as a diving bell, where death sentence prisoner would wore the diving bell and drowned in the sea. With doctors and therapists taking care of him, he found himself living without dignity.

With the help of Henriteet (Marie Jozee Croze), a speech therapist, she uses a unique method of communicating with Jean thru pronouncing the alphabets and Jean would form a word or sentence by blinking the eye. After getting to know her much more better, Jean found his way to survive thru the disabilities: imagination and beautiful memories. Both set his spirit free, and he feels like he is flying like a butterfly. And thus he began writing his memoirs of his life.

The story is told through the view from Jean's left eye and reaction in his mind after the stroke. This pulls the audience and the inner world of Jean closer, and audience could have a feel of putting themselves into Jean's shoes. From the effort the cast and crew puts in the movie, we can tell that the movie is follow everything accordingly to the book, without any adjustments.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is the movie that you need if you want to take a break from normal popcorn flicks, or a movie that makes you think through about yourself, and how you live life to the fullest.

A powerful and emotional journey

[screenwriter-14 · 9/10 · 22 December 2007]

THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY is a jewel of a French film with a story that impacts an audience with an appreciation for life (the butterfly) and for the despair of what may happen if a tragedy might befall you (the diving bell)with the beautiful landscapes of France as a backdrop. The lighting and photography enhance the film, and the faces of the French women are wondrous to behold as the story unfolds on the screen. This film deserves all the accolades that it has received in a story which is spellbinding and emotional. The cast is superb, the scenes that depict the father and son are very real and show the importance of acceptance of father for son, which is carried down to his own children, and the final scenes leave you with a great respect for the writer and his story. Merci beau coup, Ronald Harwood, for delivering this story to the screen.

blink once for yes

[rationalandpsyched2 · 10/10 · 12 October 2007]

Waking up from a stroke is terrible, but waking up as someone else is even more shocking.

Jean-Dominique knew himself but didn't recognize the person he became after his stroke, which had left him with locked-in syndrome. He wanted to piece together what had happened to him and what he was left with, which allowed him to appreciate the fact that he was indeed still alive and surrounded by people who genuinely loved him. Locked-in syndrome might seem like the end all be all but Jean-Dominique had such a humbling and good sense of humor about it.

We become Jean-Dominique from the beginning, played wonderfully by Mathieu Amalric, in this point-of-view subtitled masterpiece, living our last days in a French hospital with only gorgeous rolling hillsides, countryside, beaches, and glaciers to look at. As the editor of Elle we can only expect a lifestyle of luxury and also not be surprised by the amorous affairs of such a charismatic figure.

He eventually started working on a book with one of his caretakers, Claude- by which the method of writing was that he dictated sentences with his one remaining eye to her. I believe that she grew to love him, and he may have perhaps loved her in a way as well (as we can see by some of what he dictates to her and the point-of-view shots of him frequently checking her out). The relationships that he formed with his caretakers as well as with the mother of his children, Celine, who still loved him despite what they had been through, were beautiful yet agonizing to watch.

Every time an airy tune started to play, we were whisked off into a sort of Jean-Do oyster-eating sexual fantasy or uplifting flash back, but then the music was abruptly cut off and we went back to being trapped again. (By last time this happened I was starting to anticipate it.)

I am impressed by Julian Schnabel's ability to allow us to become fully absorbed in Jean Dominique's life and not holding anything back, no matter how hard it may have been to watch. He did justice to Basquiat as well. I honestly don't think most Americans can appreciate this honest sort of cinema, but I hope that this will gain a wide release, or be distributed however Julian Schnabel would like it to.

I plan on reading Jean-Dominique's book now, as it seems to be a beautiful manuscript.

Claustrophobic

[Hitchcoc · 9/10 · 12 January 2009]

I remembered hearing this title, so when it showed up on a cable station, I decided to watch it. I was transfixed. I think a massive stroke and total dependence on others is one of those events that we all fear in the darkest reaches of the soul. What we have here is a very successful man, a cad, a pretty poor father, suddenly finding himself paralyzed except for one eye which he can move around and the ability to blink. This leads to a story told from the perspective of the victim. What is really wonderful about this film is that they didn't make this a maudlin survivor film. I don't even know if I could call it inspirational. He continues to deal with failings and to act in rather offensive ways, even without speech. This is about total introspection and thought. He was a character devoid of gratitude and still has trouble with it, though totally at the mercy of his condition. I couldn't help but think of Dalton Trumbo's "Johnny Got His Gun," to find such a protagonist. Another really strong point of this film is that the things we predict will happen don't always. He is left to his loneliness and despair at times. He had an empty life in many ways before, and much the same in the end. Great cinematography and story telling. Remarkable performances.

Polanski informs "Diving Bell"

[samroome · 24 November 2007]

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.

Not much more than a gimmick

[zetes · 7/10 · 1 January 2008]

Just a gimmick. It's a good one, even a great one, but, once the film ended, I realized it was just a gimmick. A gimmick propping up one of my least favorite movie plots: the paralyzed person triumphing (in a way) against adversity. Others include The Wings of Eagles and, more recently, The Sea Inside. The style, which attempts to capture everything from the point of its protagonist, a man with locked-in syndrome (i.e., he can only move one eye, but is entirely conscious). I'm impressed by what Schnabel was able to achieve here, but I must say, I never felt anything for any of the characters. Only Max von Sydow, with two knockout scenes, registers. The man's three female helpers are easy to mix up, and his wife and mistress don't have much personality. Because of this, it faded almost as soon as the credits started to roll.

Lived Up To The Hype

[ccthemovieman-1 · 9/10 · 5 March 2010]

After checking out the excellent reviews here, this movie sounded too good to pass up, so I rented it. After an uncomfortable first 10-15 minutes, I wondered if I been hoodwinked.....but no, I hadn't. The film got better and better and when it over, I felt I had watched something truly special.

This is simply great film-making, and I can see why it was an award-winner in multiple categories. You can start with the photography, which is fantastic. The direction is innovative, which ads to the cinematography and the story, once you're hooked in, will not let you go, so big-time props for the writers, too. Even if the subject matter (paralysis) is difficult you want to keep watching to find out how much progress "Jean-Dominique Bauby" (Mathieu Amalric) will make.

In addition to wonderful direction and visuals, what I'll always take from this film is (1) the incredible patience of the speech therapists (which includes Celine, his wife) and (2) continually wondering how frustrated Jean-Do must have felt in his horrible physical condition.

All the actors were very good in this film. Amalric was so realistic I could have taken him for the real-life person. My personal favorite was speech therapist "Henriette Roi," played by Marie-Josee Croze. More important than her beauty, the concern and the kindness on her face day after day was inspiring. Meanwhile, veteran acor Max von Sydow was mesmerizing as Jean-Do's father.

One of the scary "sermons" of this based-on-a-true-life story is that most of us take life and all the little things in it, for granted each day.

Overall, a very memorable movie and one which lived up to the hype.

Shcnabel gets us inside the head of "locked-in syndrome", and has an often absorbing, experimental picture

[Quinoa1984 · 7/10 · 16 December 2007]

I'll have to admit, I can't go completely with how the mass opinion has been about the Diving Bell and the Butterfly, the third film by painter-turned-director Julian Shnabel. I don't think it's any towering achievement overall, and if not for the experimenting with style and mood and nuance it wouldn't connect quite as much (even if, also arguably, Schanbel's own stylistic overhaul of the 'triumph-of-the-spirit' biopic goes a little too much towards the end). But this being said, I wouldn't at all tell anyone not to go see it, especially for those who want a spike of difference in a story of true human adversity and the trials and tribulations that go with something taken always for granted- communication. It's a brave effort, and one that I would probably revisit in bits and pieces when on DVD or on TV. There is a quality of artistic perseverance that Schnabel is attempting here, and it's probably just as admirable as Jean Dominique Bauby's own personal success at freedom from his own uncontrollable prison.

Bauby, an editor for French Elle, got a stroke and consequently had "locked-in" syndrome, where he could still think, remember and imagine, but had next to no physical movements. Through a system of communication by blinking, letter by letter of the alphabet, Bauby got his sanity and will to live back, and wrote a book of the film's title, where he wrote about his memories and time in the hospital. Ten days after the book released, he died. What we get right off the bat, as part of Schanbel trying out and changing to the unexpected, aside from one or two cuts to flashbacks, we don't leave Bauby's first-person POV- a fragile, out-and-in-focus view, with voice-overs of Bauby's sarcastic and impinged thoughts, and it's daring. Only when he leaves his point of view does he finally accept he needs to move on from his self-pity and thoughts of death does the point of view change (though he goes back to Bauby's one-eyed view every now and again).

From there, we see his recovery, not in the physical sense but in his consciousness, of visualizing all sort of things elsewhere in the world, and of his past faults (i.e. a trip with a girlfriend to Lourdes, where his Catholicism catches up with the awkwardness of romance there). In the emotional sense, Schanbel and Harwood do get it right, most of the time. Some of the best scenes of the film are the ones featuring Bauby's father, played by Max von Sydow, who is also somewhat locked-in, unable to leave his apartment to see his son in the hospital. If only for a few minutes, Bergmanian sorrow drifts into the proceedings. And Schnabel has two interesting cards at his disposal: Mathieu Amalric, who even with one eye often has a talent (if that's the word, 'soul' might be too sentimental) that is perfect for the part. And, Janusz Kaminski, who is up for experimenting with lighting and different lenses, and tries to keep up with Schnabel's ideas in expressing- as Herzog might put it- inner landscapes.

Perhaps it's simply on a first-viewing that certain things, for me, became too baffling or repetitive. We're given surrealistic visions of a crumbling hospital, an Empress running around, glaciers, other visions that almost stretch to be too literal coming out of the book's narration via Bauby, and during these (plus what veers to an over-the-top wavering camera leading up to Bauby's actual stroke shown while he's driving), one almost wants Schanbel to get back to the more heart-rending moments, of the nurse or other looking straight-on at Bauby, sometimes going into tears, at the words he comes out with letter by tragic-comic letter. But Diving Bell and the Butterfly works, at least, in putting a viewer through an experience that is inspiring, that does what many biopics only do in spurts or not at all, which is to use style to elevate substance to the level of art. My complains about the film are practically outweighed by the core emotional impulse of Bauby, who will live on now by way of his creativity and ingenuity- like his favorite book, The Count of Monte Cristo.

the best of the bedridden

[rhinocerosfive-1 · 8/10 · 2 February 2008]

Nice, very nice. An extraordinarily sensual film, peppered with delightful performances, shot from an uncluttered script of humor and humanity, still this must be described as a very light entertainment. It's a feel-good movie about a guy who can't get out of his own head without the kindness of strangers, so on some level it's a lie. But it doesn't go far in that direction, mostly choosing to celebrate that indomitable spirit of charity rather than lamenting its necessity; so I guess it's mostly honest in what it chooses to display.

In an heroic effort to portray the struggle, rather than the tragedy, the film casts its subject in jelly-bean colors. Apparently Jean-Do Bauby was the luckiest paralytic in France. I can barely imagine his life as editor of Elle, but after the stroke he lives by the sea, surrounded by beauties who exist only to help him. He fantasizes about taking them to dinner, and making love to them and to the Empress Eugenie. Unlike so many guy-stuck-in-bed movies (SEA INSIDE, WHOSE LIFE IS IT ANYWAY, BONE COLLECTOR), this one never gets maudlin. It celebrates life instead of demanding its end. I have nothing against suicide - if you're unhappy, get lost - but I don't want to watch another movie about somebody who just wants to die. This movie makes SEA INSIDE look like a self-pitying bitchfest. No, actually, SEA INSIDE did that to itself. But by comparison, this one has its protagonist pirouetting and leaping for joy.

Let me say unequivocally that in my experience despair may be irrevocable, and that in real life, total paralysis might just warrant a death wish. But again, I don't want to watch a movie about that. What possible valid theme may be pulled from a story about life not being worth living? I don't even want to know.

Did I mention the fantastic performers? Aside from a very toothsome collection of Frenchwomen - Emmanuelle Seigner, Marie-Josee Croze, Anne Consigny, Marina Hands, Emma de Caunes - there's the always dependable Mathieu Amalric, the actor who looks more like a young Polanski than even a young Polanski did. Funnily enough, Emmanuelle Seigner plays his wife. More felicity from a remarkably frivolous confection.

Good decisions

[kosmasp · 7/10 · 11 September 2008]

I'm pretty sure that my comment will get bashed, just for my (low?) voting, but although I did like the movie overall, there were just a few things, that really didn't the mark (with me at least). It starts with one too ... While it was surely meant to unsettle us, I was beginning to feel more than uneasy, watching the "camera" angle that was chosen .. again I know this was vital to the story, but that doesn't mean that everyone has to love and or like it. I'm pretty sure I couldn't have handled a feature length film that would've been filmed entirely like the beginning few minutes ...

And while we do get flashbacks (important to get more into the main character), it was more his situation that made him lovable, then the person he was. That might have been intentional too, but didn't help me with the main character. A really good movie overall, but I just wasn't as gripped by it, as I thought I would be (I guess I have to read the book, which I haven't yet)

Left me similarly paralyzed

[edward-williams-190-182160 · 2/10 · 8 March 2018]

This movie has received an astoundingly high rating. I expect that those, like myself, who wish to excise this experience from our respective memories, probably would prefer to not remind themselves of it by visiting IMDB and leaving a review. I shall soldier on on behalf of the silent masses.

I recall The Devil Wears Prada; a cloying, flaccid attempt to paint fashionistas as warm and caring individuals - somehow significant due to their important role in deciding which colour sweater one would need to wear this season in order to not feel inferior - as opposed to the vapid, self-important cretins that they actually are.

"Wow" fashion editor has a stroke, and writes book with one eye. That is about the size of it. I do not wish to demean victims of that devastating illness. Nor would I detract from a persons achievement in completing a literary work. However, people have strokes every day. And people write bad books every day.

I wonder, should I contract terminal cancer and put out a CD of mediocre pop songs describing my situation, if I might have a movie made about me? I expect not. And I have to wonder why Monsieur Bauby's contribution to culture would be any more interesting or relevant to anyone outside his immediate circle?

Taking time to read the book, you would quickly get the measure of the man. A text-book fashionista as previously described. From high life, sipping champagne surrounded by beautiful people in all the right clothing, to stroke victim. I can imagine this fall to be all the further should you topple from a pedestal. But does that make it interesting or compelling? Not remotely. All the cinematography and skilled script writing in the world, can not give this film one single grain of substance.

You may argue, that against all odds he wrote the book with only one eye. Well, he didn't *actually* write the book with one eye. He dictated it with one eye. In his final days, did he write about the miracle of life, the importance of taking care of each other? Anything noteworthy at all? No, he wrote about himself. Exactly as you would expect.

I toiled through this movie with my wife, in desperate hope that at some point the movie or the man would demonstrate some redeeming quality. Alas we were disappointed. I left the movie feeling soiled. Sorry you had a stroke and all. But if having a stroke is what makes you ultimately interesting, it probably wasn't a good idea to make a movie about it. I really - really - do not care.

As a private record of this guys life and illness, perhaps for close friends and family, this would be perfect. A very nicely presented home movie. For anyone else, uh.

I really should know better, purchasing DVDs with excessively beautiful artwork is always a mistake. Worst of all, I purchased this for $1 in the bargain bin, and the same day my wife coincidentally did also. So now we have 2 copies, double the sinking feeling when scanning past them on the shelf.

God I detest this movie, easily in the Top 3 worst movies I ever had the misfortune of seeing.