Review of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

A terrific imagining of the process of writing the memoir of the same name. Its author, Jean-Dominique Bauby, was struck with paralysis in all but his left eye and he recorded his life story by means of blinking out words, letter by letter, to an assistant. This story has all the potential in the world to be the most saccharine, tear filled mess of a melodrama, but thankfully Julian Schnabel directs with restraint and lyrical beauty.

In his continuing pursuit to portray the lives of artists, Schnabel was captivated by Bauby's story. He decided there was only one way to treat it: by shooting in France, with French actors, in the native language. All this while New Yorker Schnabel knew only rudimentary French himself. Strangely, the film would likely not be as effective without his outsider perspective. Diving Bell relies so much upon Bauby's reintegration into a now alien world and learning to communicate again from square one. A French director or writer may not have been able to get inside that frame of mind in the way Schnabel did.

While the book is a biography of Bauby's life, the film concentrates on its writing with only flashes of his past. We see just as much of his thoughts unfold in dreams as they do in real-life recollections. Schnabel also places large swathes of the film from inside Bauby's blurred, muted, and near static point of view. It is unsettling, to say the least, and moving.

The film eschews the sensational drama that would have certainly filled a lesser version of this story. Diving Bell has emotion, certainly, but more than anything the actors and script demonstrate a quiet strength which one would realistically expect to be necessary to the survival of Bauby during his illness. The lead, Mathieu Amalric, is amazing in his ability to portray sadness, anger, frustration, and humour with no more than one eye and slight head movements at his disposal!

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is a remarkable, gorgeous, and life affirming film. Thank god Ron Howard didn't get his hands on this.

Aaron.
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Posted on 01/08/08 by: Aaron 02:22 PM