The Diving Bell and the Butterfly – La scaphandre et le papillon (2007)

Directed by: Julian Schnabel | 112 minutes | drama, biography | Actors: Mathieu Amalric, Emmanuelle Seigner, Marie-Josée Croze, Anne Consigny, Patrick Chesnais, Niels Arestrup, Olatz Lopez Garmendia, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Marina Hands, Max von Sydow, Isaach De Bankolé, Emma de Caunes, Jean-Philippe Écoffey , Gerard Watkins, Nicolas Le Riche

You can safely call Jean-Dominique Bauby’s lot in life bizarre. After a stroke, the editor-in-chief of Elle changes overnight from a vital forty-something into a greenhouse plant. Only his left eye still works. With that in mind, he uses an ingenious communication system to write a book about his life, in which the time after the stroke is central. Shortly after the book comes out, Bauby dies. His legacy is a fascinating glimpse into the mind of a man who watches the world go by from a metaphorical diving bell.

Fortunately, Bauby did not limit himself to mere observations. The self-contained patient had the ability not only to see, but also to remember and fantasize. Like the observations from the hospital bed, these memories and fantasies deal with major themes: love, death, religion, old age, family and friendship. In these musings Bauby shows himself to be a true humanist with a keen sense of irony. In the filming of Bauby’s autobiography, we initially follow the gaze of the victim. The image is often blurred, sometimes disappears, while the close-ups of doctors are usually life-size. The patient’s memories and fantasies look very authentic, so that we get to know the individual Bauby better and we can identify with him relatively easily. The latter in turn makes some apparently mundane scenes, such as the one in which Bauby’s young daughters sing a song for him to cry, so moving.

Later in the film we also see images from a less subjective perspective. While in the first part we are mainly fascinated by the survival instinct of a human being who has become a mere spirit, in the second part we are amazed at human mercy. The relentless care of nurses, family and friends betrays a view of humanity that is almost anachronistic in its positivism. At the same time, the confrontation between Bauby’s mistress and ex-girlfriend ensures that things don’t get too sweet and that human egoism is never far away.

The American director and visual artist Julian Schnabel turned the film adaptation of Jean Dominique Bauby’s story into a real work of art. The cinematography, directed by the Pole Janusz Kaminski, is at once colourful, playful, poetic and inventive. The choice of music (Tom Waits, U2) always provides an atmospheric setting and the acting is of a very high level. ‘The Diving Bell and the Butterfly’ is therefore one of those rare films that no film buff should miss. Moving, humane, original, profound and at times very funny. masterpiece.