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Your Gateway to Music and More from a Christian Perspective Slow down as you approach the gate, and have your change ready....
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Since 1996 |
Your Gateway to Music and More from a Christian Perspective Slow down as you approach the gate, and have your change ready....
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The Diving Bell and the Butterfly Stars: Mathieu Amalric, Emmanuelle Seigner, Marie-Josee Croze, Patrick Chesnais, Marina Hands and Max Von Sydow Director: Julian Schnabel Scriptwriter: Ronald Harwood (from the memoir by Jean-Dominique Bauby) Composer: Paul Cantelon Cinematography: Janusz Kaminski Miramax Rated PG 13 French language with subtitles Running Length: 114 minutes Jean-Dominique Bauby was the editor-in-chief of Elle magazine. Elle, along with Harper’s Bazaar and others, are The fashion magazines in the world. Bauby lead a life of ease, complete with wife, four children, travels, parties and not a care in the world. Until he suffered a devastating stroke with a rare side-effect called “locked-in syndrome.” It means the person is complete paralyzed. In Bauby’s case, his only way of communicating was through blinking his left eye. This bio-pic is adapted from Bauby’s memoir, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly telling of his life and emotions when the stroke hits. Relationships change between he and his family, friends and colleagues. Bauby was about in his mid-forties when the stroke occurred. The story begins when he is in a hospital being examined by doctors. They reassure him that something can be done to help him, but as time passes, Bauby realizes that life is like being underwater in a diving suit and the only help is to emerge from this situation as a butterfly from a cocoon. Flashbacks show what his life was like before the stroke and "carefree playboy" comes to mind. We are with him through the daily routine of bathing, and therapists trying to help him speak and breathe on his own. This enables him at times to get into a wheelchair and leave his room. The view we are given is the view he has and it becomes claustrophobic at times. A speech therapist is successful in getting him to communicate through the alphabet. As someone recites the letters, he blinks at the appropriate letter and patiently, words are formed and then sentences. It’s at this point that Bauby decides to write his memoirs with the help of someone to communicate with him 5-6 hours a day. His illness doesn’t seem to bother his wife or children, but some friends and his ailing father (Max von Sydow) take it quite hard. Bauby has gone from a hospital to a palatial nursing facility with a view of the sea. Photography is beautifully done as in one lingering shot of the man in a wheelchair sitting alone on a dock. Paul Cantelon’s background music is appropriate for each scene of Bauby’s life. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is in the league of My Left Foot and The Music Within in depicting an illness and the circumstances the person dwells in. Mathieu Amalric as Jean-Dominique Bauby gives a powerful performance even though he is motionless and blinking one eye. In a small role, Max Von Sydow as Bauby’s father, tells us that he just doesn’t know what to do. It is an overwhelming sensation. Jean-Dominique Bauby’s memoir was published just three days before he died. Copyright 2008 Marie Asner
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