Le Scaphandre et le Papillon (Diving Bell and the Butterfly)
2007
****½
Director: Julian Schnabel
Cast: Mathieu Amalric, Emmanuelle Seigner, Marie-Josée Croze, Anne Consigny, Max von Sydow, Niels Arestrup, Isaach De Bankolé
In 1995, Jean-Dominique Bauby, editor of Elle magazine, suffered a massive stroke which left him in a locked-in state, in full command of his mental faculties but unable to move any part of his body apart from his left eye. Using blinking and alphabets, the patient and his speech therapist developed a functioning communication system. This incredible real-life drama, scripted by Ronald Harwood, is based on the man's memoir, which he dictated one letter at a time. The premise sounds terribly depressing, but Julian Schnabel's film is sweet, uplifting, morbidly funny, and inevitably heartbreaking. Bauby's body is the diving bell dragging him down, but his imagination is the butterfly lifting him up. His memories and fantasies lighten up an otherwise grim story. Mathieu Amalric is excellent in the lead.
