The Diving-Bell and the Butterfly

Product Information

Long, complicated but, amazingly, quite possible--resulting an an actual book "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly"--which also became the title of this movie.

On December 8, 1995, Jean-Dominique Bauby - age 43 and editor-in-chief of the world-famous fashion magazine Elle - was living the "good life" to the extreme when he became the victim of a devastating cerebrovascular accident that left him in a state of total paralysis, incapable of any verbal communication, in what is known in the medical community as "locked-in syndrome. I was worried that it would be arty and depressing, but I was pleasantly surprised by how absorbing and moving it was. Metacritic gave the film an average score of 92/100, based on 36 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". Although frustrating at start, he learns to communicate effectively but slowly using this method, so much so that with the help of Claude, a full time translator, he decides on the monumental and seemingly impossible task to keep to his pre-injury commitment of writing a book, changing its focus to life in his current state.

He likens his physical state to being inside of a diving bell, while a butterfly symbolizes the intact agility of his mind. This is a true biographical sketch of a French Journalist Jean-Dominique Bauby (Mathieu Amalric) who was also the editor of magazine ELLE.

Much of the author's thoughts relate to prayer and religious experience of one kind of another, and he spends much time pondering on the pilgrimage he took to Lourdes, home of Joan of Arc, and consequently a place of miracles for those who visit it. 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. 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).This is possibly the best part of the film and it caught my attention--the fascinating use of very unusual camera angles, focus and close-ups. 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. The story begins with Jean Dominique (Mathieu Amalric) finding himself woke up in a hospital,unable to move his body. The Sausage: He doesn't pass his dietary test, as yogurt enters his airway, so he “eats” through a tube connected to his stomach.

Relating his own experience, he tells Bauby, "Hang on to the human who is inside you," to which Bauby answers, "Easy said. Despite his condition, he wrote the book The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by blinking when the correct letter was reached by a person slowly reciting the alphabet over and over again. On this day, he is accompanied by his old friend, Brice, and Claude, the person he is dictating the book to. In magical sequences, he imagines traveling to other places and times and of lying next to the woman he loves.

The fantastic capture of real eye angle camera movements from the vision of Jean is incredibly real.