By: debbie lynn elias
Already the Audience Award winning feature film at the AFI Film Festival held just two weeks ago at the Arclight Theatre in Hollywood and winner at Cannes for Best Director and Technical Grand Prize for Cinematography, THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY just this week added four, count ‘em, four Independent Spirit Award nominations to its mounting roster of accolades, and with good reason. Thanks to beauteous lensing and visuals from Janusz Kaminski, one of my favorite and most respected and talented cinematographers in the world, an emotionally exhilarating roller-coaster ride of a script by Academy Award winner Ron Harwood, and an Oscar caliber performance by Matthew Amalric, director Julian Schnabel paints a masterful tapestry of the terrifying yet imaginatively freeing journey of Jean-Dominique Bauby who, after awakening from a coma, finds himself a victim of “locked in syndrome”, yet with a fanciful, imaginative and fully functioning mind intact.
Jean-Dominique Bauby, or Jean-Do or Bauby as he was called by his friends, lived life in the fast lane. Editor of the French version of Elle magazine, his joie-de-vivre was unparalleled. He loved his women and his fun. Father of two, he was an author, a dreamer, an adventurer with grace and style that set him head and shoulders above crowd. But then the unthinkable happened. In December 1995, at the age of 43, Bauby suffered a stroke. One minute he’s driving his son to a soccer game and the next, he is slumped over in his car with his child screaming for help on a lonely country road in France.
Waking some days later from a coma, Bauby, sees what he thinks are doctors and nurses, but he cannot be sure. Has he been sleeping? Is this a dream? Bauby always has wonderful dreams. But this is not wonderful. “Yes, I am here. Yes, I hear you.” But as Bauby soon discovers, while in his mind’s eye he was responding to and communicating with these people, they heard nothing. No sounds came out of his mouth. His mouth did not move. Trying to will his arms to lift, it was impossible. Not even a finger or toe would move. Terror and panic fill his heart, his mind, his soul. What is to become of him? His children? His mistress? The mother of his children? His magazine? His life?
Determined and dedicated the medical team carefully explain to Bauby what has happened to him. His frustration and pain are evident as he learns that his body completely paralyzed yet his incredible and fully functioning mind, is locked-in and trapped inside this non-functioning body but for one thing – his eye. He can blink his eye.
Sparked by Bauby’s own strength, his speech therapist, Henriette, soon devises a system for Bauby to communicate – blinking an eye in response to each letter of the alphabet so that words could be spelled out. Breaking down the French alphabet into a melodic symphony based on the frequency of use of letters, although a tedious process, allows Bauby to still be a part of the world he so loves.
Desperate to be heard, Bauby is ultimately inspired to write a book. His heart and his mind cannot be silenced. Reflective and heart wrenching, with Henriette and Bauby’s writing partner Claude, combined with the devotion of his medical team, his friends, and above all, Celine, the mother of his children, one letter at a time, Bauby puts his thoughts to paper, resulting in “The Diving Bell & The Butterfly”, published just three days before his death in 1997.
Matthew Amalric is simply astounding as Bauby. Immobilized throughout the shooting of the film, Amalric’s sole method of communication is by blinking his left eye. Thanks to the use of prosthetics, the right eye is “sewn shut” as had to be done to Bauby shortly after waking from his coma. With the film told exclusively from Bauby’s point-of-view, Amalric has extensive “off sides” interior monologue to which the audience is privy but not the other actors. His delivery is effectively conflicted and emotional, but particularly notable in his ability to convey Bauby’s sense of humor, lasciviousness and love of life which never faded even in the most dire of situations. Marie-Josee Croze is stellar as the devoted Henriette. Herself a petite, delicate woman, the emotional fortitude she brings to Henriette and her relationship with Bauby (which although Croze never confirmed directly with the real Henriette, is believed to have developed into undying love) is hauntingly compelling. Emmanuelle Seigner steps in as Celine. An interesting role, Seigner has the difficult task of showing love for this man, her “husband” and father of her children, while also serving as his conduit for speaking to his mistress. Seigner has an emotional depth that allows her to walk a fine line of love and contempt for the hand that Celine she been dealt with Bauby. Simply riveting. In a surprising appearance is the legendary Max Von Sydow as Bauby’s father. His scenes shot in one day, the elder Bauby is shown primarily in flashbacks, providing a precious and dear father-son dynamic with a love that brings one to tears. Also key is Schnabel’s casting of some of Bauby’s actual medical attendants and therapists who did much to aid Amalric in his performance.
Written by Ron Harwood based on Bauby’s book by the same name, Harwood expressed the difficulty in the challenge of doing honor to Bauby while at the same time presenting a compelling interactive story. It was when he “had the idea of Jean-Do himself serving as the camera – that his blinking eye is the camera” when the script took place. The result is an emotionally structured beautiful story of hope and a celebration of life.
Directed by well known neo-expressionist painter Julian Schnabel, Schnabel’s visions are inventive and extraordinary. Insisting on authenticity, the entire film was shot in French and on location in France, with the bulk of the film shooting in Berck Maritime Hospital where Bauby was a patient. It was critical to Schnabel that, “I had to believe it myself”. He even went so far as to take French lessons and allowed great input from the cast when translating Harwood’s script from English into French. Calling on cinematographer Janusz Kaminksi, the collaborative result is astonishing. Shot entirely through Bauby’s POV, Schnabel used his own eyeglasses over the camera lens to create Bauby’s blur and confusion post coma. Combining Kaminski’s blurred and shaky camera focus with artsy tricks such as actually stitching latex together over the camera lens as it would appear to Bauby when the procedure was performed on him, the result is chillingly real. But then Kaminski’s lush aesthetic imagery becomes celebratory and fantastical as it brings Bauby’s quieted world to life.
THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY. A work of art. A celebration of life and hope. A testament to the human mind. Yes, Jean-Dominque Bauby, the Cosmos do contain the keys to opening not only your diving bell, but that in all of us. With your book and this film, you have given us our key.
Jean-Dominique Bauby – Mathieu Amalric Henriette Roi – Marie-Josee Croze Celine – Emmanuelle Seigner Papinou – Max Von Sydow
Directed by Julian Schnabel. Written by Ronald Harwood based on the original book by Jean- Dominique Bauby. In French with English sub-titles. PG-13 (112 min)
