The Diving Bell & The Butterfly
THE DIVING BELL & THE BUTTERFLY (LE SCAPHANDRE ET LE
PAPILLON) (12)
D: Julian Schnabel
Pathé (Kathleen Kennedy & Jon Kilik)
France/USA 🇫🇷 🇺🇸 2007
111 mins
Drama/Biopic
W: Ronald Harwood [based on the book by
Jean-Dominique Bauby]
DP: Janusz Kaminski
Ed: Juliette Welfling
Mus: Paul Centelon
Mathieu Amalric (Jean-Dominique
Bauby), Emmanuelle Seigner (Celine Desmoulins), Marie-Josée Croze (Henriette Durand), Anne Consigny (Claude Mendibil), Patrick Chesnais (Dr. Lepage)
Based on one of the best books I've read in recent years, The
Diving Bell & The Butterfly is an excellent adaptation of a story that I thought would struggle to make transition to the silver screen.
It's the story of fashion journalist Jean-Dominique Bauby, who
awakens from a coma paralysed from head-to-toe and only able to move his left eyelid. With the help of a speech therapist, he uses his left eye as his only ways of communication and uses this
unique method to dictate his biography (the book that this movie is based on)
Brilliantly directed and photographed mostly from a first
person perspective, it's a sombre and dramatic story of a man trapped inside a shell, unable to escape.
Fantastic performances from the cast. A classic of French
cinema and a beautiful, touching film. Try and read the book first.
9/10
