The Diving Bell and The Butterfly tells the tragic story of former Elle editor Jean-Dominique Bauby who becomes paralyzed after a car accident. He suffers ‘locked-in syndrome’, and can only communicate by blinking his left eye. Despite this tragedy, he manages to dictate his memoirs and the film concentrates on this process.
What unfolds is a truly inspiring story of a man coming to terms with being trapped inside a non-functioning body, and is brilliant played by Mathieu Amalric. A lot of the film is shot from his perspective adding to the sense of absolute frustration that Bauby feels.
The artist-director Julian Schnabel makes many of the scenes more memorable by using vivid colours, particularly when featuring the female characters. The many dream-like cut scenes add a fantasy element, contrasting with the stark setting of the hospital where most of the film is played out.
Overall, a fantastic film and inspiring in many ways.
Rating: out of 5 stars
Glen Scott
I’m a freelance software developer with 18 years’ professional experience in web development. I specialise in creating tailor-made, web-based systems that can help your business run like clockwork. I am the Managing Director of Yellow Square Development.
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I loved “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”, but the movie I’d rather see is “My Stroke of Insight”, which is the amazing bestselling book by Dr Jill Bolte Taylor. It is an incredible story and there’s a happy ending. She was a 37 year old Harvard brain scientist who had a stroke in the left half of her brain. The story is about how she fully recovered, what she learned and experienced, and it teaches a lot about how to live a better life. Her TEDTalk at TED dot com is fantastic too. It’s been spread online millions of times and you’ll see why!