Wow. What a movie. I will get this out of the way right up front, I think The Diving Bell and the Butterfly was the best picture to come out last year. It took me a couple days to decide, but I would rank it slightly above the Oscar winner, No Country for Old Men, which is saying a lot, because I loved that movie as well.
Diving Bell is the true story of Jean-Dominique Bauby, the former editor of Elle Magazine in France. In his early 40’s he suffered a surprise stroke which left him almost completely paralyzed. While his body was of little use to him, his mind remained as sharp as ever. After overcoming a battle with self-pity, Bauby, played to perfection by Mathieu Amalric, decided to make the most of the situation by writing a book about his experience in the hospital through a time consuming and labor intensive method of communication with the woman hired to take his dictation.
The film explores how several of Bauby’s relationships changed as a result of his stroke. Some of the most powerful moments in the film are the interactions between Bauby and his frail, aging father, whom Bauby had been helping to care for before his stroke.
Also notable is the way in which Bauby maintained his creativity and sense of humor throughout the ordeal. His real and imagined interactions with his gorgeous therapists and the woman to whom he dictates his book are frequently hilarious. These scenes showcase Bauby’s personality and help reinforce our recognition of his inner strength by showing how he hasn’t let his condition rob him of his identity.
The acting in Diving Bell was solid, but it was the direction and cinematography that really stole the show. The film was nominated for four Academy Awards including Best Direction, Best Cinematography, and Best Editing. There was pretty stiff competition for Best Direction, so you can’t really complain that Julian Schnabel didn’t win, but the cinematography in Diving Bell was obviously superior to There Will Be Blood. It is also ridiculous that Diving Bell wasn’t even nominated for Best Foreign Language Film. It got universal critical acclaim including the highest score on MetaCritic for last year, tied with There Will Be Blood. Much of the film is shot from Bauby’s first person perspective which is truly unique in the way it is presented. Schnabel and company also did a great job with the locations. There aren’t a ton of scenic landscapes in the film, but when scenes outside the hospital are used, they are used very effectively.
The screenplay, which was also nominated for an Oscar, gives the viewer a healthy balance between Bauby’s internal dialogue, which is largely drawn from the book, and actual dialogue between the characters.
Let me repeat that I cannot recommend this film highly enough. If you’ve been living a cave for the past year or so and want to rent one movie to catch up on what you’ve missed make sure it is The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, it is a tremendous achievement on so many levels and should be an instant favorite to almost anyone who isn’t too averse to subtitles. Go out and rent as soon as you have the chance, you’ll be glad you did.
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I completely agree. This was an incredible film and one of my favorites from the year. I instantly regretted not seeing it at the Terrace like we originally planned to , especially after seeing the parts filmed through first person perspective. I definitely want to read the book this summer too. Good review David!
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!