Jean-Dominique Bauby had a massive stroke at the age of 43 that left his mind intact but with the only functioning body part being his left eye. Having been an editor of the upscale French women's magazine "Elle," Bauby lived a suitably upscale life--three children by one woman, a mistress, fancy restaurants and cars, a country estate.
'The Diving Bell and the Butterfly' is the celebration of life, not the mourning of one's tragic circumstance. It is at once a truly frightening and breathtakingly beautiful film, interpreted for the screen masterfully by Julian Schnabel.
'The Diving Bell and the Butterfly' is tragic, humorous, enlightening, heroic, and life-affirming. The film is based on a book by former editor-in-chief of Elle magazine, Jean-Dominique Bauby.
Based on a true story of a young French fashion editor who had a stroke and ending up unable to move a muscle in his body as a result, it's an inspiring tale of guts and determination. Suffering from a condition known as Locked In Syndrome, he manages to communicate with the help of a driven speech therapist and even starts to write a book, coincidentally enough, with the same name as this movie.
Julian Schnabel's French film, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, is a powerful and emotional film about a man suffering from locked-in syndrome due to a stroke. Despite having his mental faculties intact, he is almost completely paralyzed and unable to communicate with the outside world.
The POV story of a man who becomes paralysed by a stroke, and the book he eventually manages to write by blinking at his assistant. In spite of not being faithful to the book and being completely bourgeois, TDBATB powerfully puts across the terrible experience of Jean-Do.
This has to be one of the most amazing movies ever made. The cinematography is sublime as well as the soundtrack.
The Diving Bell & The Butterfly Rarely one comes across a movie, which is very unique and original in its storytelling, having great visuals and cinematography, and really delves into what the protagonist is/must be feeling like, this movie just does it allIt's about the story of a successful Fashion Magazine Editor, who got a stroke and is now paralyzed of his whole body except his eyes, through which he tries to communicate, and reflects back on what his life used to be and what it means to be alive "Hold fast to the human Inside of you and you'll survive" say's one of the characters in the movie, and how true it is. Life is fleeting its a never ending race and the small beautiful things here and there are what truly makes life, and if we don't pause and see them we might miss it altogether, and that was beautifully depicted through this movie based on the book of the same name.
Not only visually incredibly impressive film about Jean-Dominique Bauby, the then editor-in-chief of "Elle", who suffered a stroke at the age of 42 and was completely paralyzed from then on - except for his left eye - but managed with insane willpower to dictate the literary template for this film letter by letter with a wink. Excellently filmed by Spielberg regular cinematographer Janusz Kaminski - the first part exclusively from the perspective of the one functioning eye and - although he has hardly any acting possibilities in this role - nevertheless superbly acted by Mathieu Amalric.
