The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007)

Simply Perfect

Powerful

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

I was briefly introduced to the real story of Jean-Dominique Bauby prior to watching the movie. And being somewhat familiar with his story, fate and situation, then I was really looking forward to seeing this movie.I must say that while his story and fate is indeed a tragic one, and one that sinks right into the heart but still an inspiring story as well, then this movie was unfathomably boring. It was so slow-paced and uneventful that it was somewhat of an ordeal to sit through. And with that in mind, one can only speculate about the horrible ordeal that life and situation must have been for Bauby himself in real life.The acting was quite nice, and the actors and actresses really delivered great performances. But they were just weighed down by a rather slow-paced and uneventful storyline. I mean that in the sense that we can quickly and easily get sympathy for Bauby and his unique situation, but this story hardly required a movie about it, as it would be given so much more justice if it was a biography instead to be read.Visually and emotionally a nice movie, but just one that didn't really offer all that much in terms of entertainment. Despite the fact it was dealing with a very unique theme.

This movie has received an astoundingly high rating. I expect that those, like myself, who wish to excise this experience from our respective memories, probably would prefer to not remind themselves of it by visiting IMDB and leaving a review. I shall soldier on on behalf of the silent masses.I recall The Devil Wears Prada; a cloying, flaccid attempt to paint fashionistas as warm and caring individuals - somehow significant due to their important role in deciding which colour sweater one would need to wear this season in order to not feel inferior - as opposed to the vapid, self-important cretins that they actually are."Wow" fashion editor has a stroke, and writes book with one eye. That is about the size of it. I do not wish to demean victims of that devastating illness. Nor would I detract from a persons achievement in completing a literary work. However, people have strokes every day. And people write bad books every day. I wonder, should I contract terminal cancer and put out a CD of mediocre pop songs describing my situation, if I might have a movie made about me? I expect not. And I have to wonder why Monsieur Bauby's contribution to culture would be any more interesting or relevant to anyone outside his immediate circle?Taking time to read the book, you would quickly get the measure of the man. A text-book fashionista as previously described. From high life, sipping champagne surrounded by beautiful people in all the right clothing, to stroke victim. I can imagine this fall to be all the further should you topple from a pedestal. But does that make it interesting or compelling? Not remotely. All the cinematography and skilled script writing in the world, can not give this film one single grain of substance.You may argue, that against all odds he wrote the book with only one eye. Well, he didn't *actually* write the book with one eye. He dictated it with one eye. In his final days, did he write about the miracle of life, the importance of taking care of each other? Anything noteworthy at all? No, he wrote about himself. Exactly as you would expect.I toiled through this movie with my wife, in desperate hope that at some point the movie or the man would demonstrate some redeeming quality. Alas we were disappointed. I left the movie feeling soiled. Sorry you had a stroke and all. But if having a stroke is what makes you ultimately interesting, it probably wasn't a good idea to make a movie about it. I really - really - do not care.As a private record of this guys life and illness, perhaps for close friends and family, this would be perfect. A very nicely presented home movie. For anyone else, uh. I really should know better, purchasing DVDs with excessively beautiful artwork is always a mistake. Worst of all, I purchased this for $1 in the bargain bin, and the same day my wife coincidentally did also. So now we have 2 copies, double the sinking feeling when scanning past them on the shelf.God I detest this movie, easily in the Top 3 worst movies I ever had the misfortune of seeing.

For some, the movie will require a fair degree of patience but it's worth it; this is an incredible story, all the more so for being a true one. It virtually forces one to think about what you would do under similar circumstances and that's not a comforting thought. The real life Jean Dominique Balby was a man of intense fortitude to come to grips with the nature of his paralysis, a rare condition called 'locked-in syndrome' that left him entirely immobile except for his left eye. Trained to communicate by blinking 'yes' or 'no' to the letters of the alphabet, Jean-Do was able to dictate a book on his experience under the attentive and patient care of his transcriber, Claude (Anne Consigny). Not only does the story reflect on the randomness of life's events in the case of Jean-Do, but also includes that of a man who Jean-Do gave up his seat on an airplane for. The plane was hijacked by terrorists and Pierre Rousin (Niels Arestrup) remained a hostage for a period of four years, thereby experiencing his own trial of solitude and tribulation. What keeps Jean-Do going are his memories and imagination, without which he would have succumbed early to a withering death. One wonders what traumatic event might have caused his condition, though a scene late in the picture reveals that it was merely a stroke that occurred while driving his son to the theater. I say merely, but the effect as we experience throughout the film was devastating. The story is entirely inspirational, though it's adherence to the facts of Jean-Do's relationship with the mother of his children and the mistress who's never shown in the picture is virtually reversed. One might take a look at the review on this board of 'edog101' for some insight into that story, one which affirms that film makers needn't tamper with the facts in order to produce a compelling movie.

I watched this movie a couple of weeks ago and I really liked it. It's about a man who has a locked-in syndrome and struggles to accept his new "him". The beginning of the movie is just SUBLIME; how the director moves us into bauby's head, so we can see through his eyes, and listen to his mind and live, therefore, the struggle of this unfortunate man, and walk along with him in his hard and long journey. And for this alone i gave it a 9/10. It is well performed and well written and well filmed. To go deeper in the movie, I liked the idea of the detachment of the soul from the body, and how bauby discovers the purest state of humans and experiences the unlimited power of the mind. This movie pushed me to think about who I really am, a soul and a mind. And to question how should i take care of this real me. It's a must watch movie.