A beautiful portrayal of the human spirit in the face of despair

DVDs:

	• The Diving Bell and the Butterfly Anne Alvaro, Niels Arestrup Miramax, 2008 average customer review:based on 76 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Admirable determination

The story is one of admirable bravery and determination in the face of hopeless despair. The acting is very good. The movie certainly deserves its accolades for technical merit. But for those good merits, I just couldn't get my mind into this movie. I think I found the pace just a little off for my preference. My mind wandered and I missed lengths of the story. It was somewhat long given the story line; just overly long enough that it detracted from the overall presentation of an otherwise good story.

A beautiful portrayal of the human spirit in the face of despair

"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" is a profound feat of filmmaking. It is based on the real-life story of Jean-Dominique Bauby, a man who suddenly finds himself in the kind of medical predicament horror stories are made of: he suffers a stroke resulting in "locked-in" syndrome, wherein Bauby, though aware of his surroundings and able to hear and see people and things around him, is completely paralyzed and unable to respond to anyone or anything (though he comes to gain some control over one of his eyelids, which is remarkably how the real-life Bauby wrote his memoirs of the same name solely by blinking).

It is truly a nightmare of a situation, and yet this film is masterfully made into a thing of beauty and hope. For although Bauby's own body has completely turned against him and shut down, his mind has not, and the film beautifully depicts the power of the mind and the spirit as Bauby's vivid imagination sweeps him away from his dreary hospital bed and into all sorts of fantasy excursions, some real-life flashbacks foraying into his past life, and others that appear to only exist as creations of Bauby's mind. Director Julian Schnabel captures these scenes beautifully, with touches of nostalgia and surrealism that create a beauty from the despair.

Rarely does a film manage to juxtapose the depressing and the hopeful so well. Bauby's present is bleak and depressing. It is clear he will not recover from his condition, and the film brutally depicts Bauby's family and friends as they struggle to cope with his predicament. (Perhaps the best, most heart-wrenching scene of the film comes from a one-sided phone conversation between Bauby, who is trapped in his body and cannot speak, and his elderly father (brilliantly portrayed by Max von Sydow), who in his own way is trapped in his apartment and cannot visit his ailing son.)

The strength of Bauby's spirit when his body is in such dire straits is incredible and inspiring. At times it is difficult to see the film as a happy one--there is nothing about Bauby's predicament that is happy or hopeful in the least. And yet the fact that Bauby never gives up, never acquiesces to the situation his mind has found his body is as moving and hopeful a story as any. "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" is not an easy film to watch, but it is a visually stunning story of the power and strength of the human spirit, and the real-life story of a man whose imagination refused to die.

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Le scaphandre et le papillon

I forget how I got interested in this movie, since I read the book after seeing the film. Anyway, I loved this movie. I watched it three times in one day. I love French Movies so I don't need to worry about being disappointed.
It was cool seeing what Bauby saw and hearing his thoughts. It was neat how you
slowly saw what Bauby looked like. First you saw what he saw, then you end up seeing him. I liked the nurse who took care of him, the one that taught him how to communicate. The movie as a whole was a cool experience and everyone should see the movie at least once during their life.

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BASED on a true story

The film is very good, and I will not go into details since many reviewers have already done so very eloquently.
I will only point a few aspects, since many people think this is 100% a true story. For the most part it is, and some changes don't take anything away from the real story or the book. For example, in real life Jean-Do had 2 children but in the movie he had 3. In real life a chauffeur was driving him when he became ill. These changes are minor, and can enhance the drama developing on the screen. Like when Jean-Do says he wants to die. It's a powerful cinematic moment, but in real life it never happened.

I used to watch a TV show called History vs. Hollywood and love to learn about what the true story really is and what is presented on the screen. In this case, the relationship between Jean-Do and his girlfriend is totally butchered by Schnabel, and unfortunately -as is often the case- people take what they see on the screen to be the truth.
In real life, Jean-Do's girlfriend was by his side throughout his ordeal, and he actually died while she was holding his hand. I think that a more accurate portrayal of this relationship would have greatly enhanced the film. In contrast, the "mother of his children" seldom visited him at the hospital, and was in New York when Jean-Do died. She was a consultant for the film, and had a big influence on how some things were portrayed. This angered a few people who were close to jean-Do and know the true story.

[...]
So overall it is a very good movie that could have been better had it adhered closer to reality. I would give it 3.5 out of 5. As the saying goes, "don't judge a book by its movie."
Hopefully more people will become aware of what is real and what is fiction.

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wow

What an interesting, unusual film. I will certainly recommend this to friends. Definitely not an average movie.

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

The remarkable and inspirational true story of Elle France editor Jean-Dominique Bauby, who at the age of 43, suffered a stroke that paralyzed his entire body, except his left eye. Using that eye to blink out his memoir, Bauby eloquently described the aspects of his interior world, from the psychological torment of being trapped inside his body to his imagined stories from lands he'd only visited in his mind.

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