The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
by Julian Schnabel

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DVD details

Actor: Anne Consigny, Emmanuelle Seigner, Marie-Jos?e Croze, Mathieu Amalric, Patrick Chesnais
Director: Julian Schnabel
Brand: Buena Vista Home Video
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 112 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2008-04-29
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Miramax

DVD Reviews of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

DVD Review: Triumph of the human spirit
Summary: 4 Stars

When magazine editor Jean-Dominique Bauby (Mathieu Amalric) suffers a massive stroke, the result is a case of `locked-in syndrome,' which leaves the body paralyzed but the mind unaffected. Through a laborious system of blinking, he defies his condition to communicate not only with those around him, but with the world as well via the writing of his memoir.

Director Julian Schnabel and cinematographer Janusz Kaminski use a full palette of film techniques to bring us into Bauby's world, often presenting scenes from his point of view. In collaboration with Ronald Harwood's sensitive script and the excellent cast, they have made a fascinating, bittersweet film about courage and love.

DVD Review: Excellent...
Summary: 5 Stars

French film with English subtitles. This is a memoir of Jean-Dominique Bauby - a man on top of the world - editor of Elle - a popular fashion design magazine. Bauby suddenly acquires "locked-in" syndrome - a rare illness which paralyzes him from his head to his toes. Bauby cannot speak but remains trapped in a sound mind. He only has the use of his left eye - and with patient care givers he learns to "sign" and communicate with his eye by blinking. After passing through bouts of claustrophobia, Bauby dreams, imagines and reflects. He reflects back on love, love lost, regrets and his relationships with his wife, children, parents and lovers. After shaking off his depressive state, Bauby writes the memoir "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" by signing one letter at a time to his stenographer.

You live Bauby's claustrophobia in this film - being trapped in his body - he cannot swap a fly off his noise - cannot change the channel on the T.V. - cannot wipe the drool from his face.

There are beautiful moving scenes with his aging Father, his wife, his lover and children.

You feel Bauby's will to live and his desire to return to the life that was.

There is spectacular cinematography in this film. French villages. Ocean views. Sweeping vistas. Red and white lighthouse.

This film was the winner of many awards and is deserving of all. One of the best films I have had the pleasure to watch.

DVD Review: Diving Bell and Butterly
Summary: 4 Stars

The most striking element of the film The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is most certainly the cinematography. The majority of the film is shot from the perspective of Jean-Dominique Bauby's eye. This creates some very interesting and dynamic shots. I found the first couple scenes particularly interesting. When the film begins, Mr. Bauby's eye slowly opens and looks around the room. The Camera is extremely out of focus and blurry. It immediately draws you deep into the film. As people begin to take notice of Mr. Bauby's awakening the shallow focus becomes more obvious. People's faces are blurry until they move as close as possible to the camera. As the film progresses, the depth of field progressively become deeper. As Mr. Bauby's vision becomes clearer, so do ours. The attention to realism and detail in the film is the most important part of it. The purpose of the attention to detail is clear; the film invites us to become fully immersed in the experience of Jean-Dominique.

Later in the film we are kicked out of Jean-Dominique Bauby's perspective rather abruptly. The cinematographer makes some really unique stylistic choices throughout the film. For example, the scene in which Mr. Bauby is driving in his convertible soon before his stroke, the camera moves often and abnormally. Sometimes the camera focuses upward at the sky and the tops of buildings from inside the car. While many different symbols and other things can be inferred from this stylistic choice, it at the very least sets the film apart from the norm.

As with any film, a combination of cinematography, directing, and editing make a film work or fail but "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly's" cinematography creates a unique and intriguing feel to the film that draws you in and never lets go, even when it kicks you out.

DVD Review: The Diving Bell and The Butterfly
Summary: 5 Stars

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

Some lines from the script that will give you a flavor of Jean-Dominique Baubly (Jean-Do) and the circumstance of his life.

I am a vegetable, lying in my bed unable to move. My whole body is encased in a kind of diving suit.

I have decided to stop pitying myself. Other than my eye, two things aren't paralyzed. My imagination. And my memory.

These are only two ways I can escape from my diving bell.

DVD Review: Did not work for me
Summary: 3 Stars

While the story this film is based on is amazing, the movie itself was rather lukewarm. One would think a story of such caliber would be incredibly moving and inspiring, but somehow the movie failed to either move or inspire me. It struggled hopelessly to make us feel what the character feels, but for me it simply did not work. I could not relate to anyone in this film. I would still recommend it for people who love drama and French films, because it's by no means a bad movie. It just wasn't my cup of tea.

Description of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

From Miramax Films acclaimed director Julian Schnabel and the screenwriter of THE PIANIST comes a remarkable and inspiring true story about the awesome power of imagination. Experience the triumphant tale of renowned editor Jean-Dominique Bauby a man whose love of life and soaring vision shaped his will to achieve a life without boundaries. You'll soon discover why David Benby of "The New Yorker" calls THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY "nothing less than the rebirth of the cinema."System Requirements:Running Time: 112 minutes Language: English / Spanish / French Subtitles: English / French / SpanishFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre:?DRAMA/TRUE STORY Rating:?PG-13 UPC:?786936750119 Manufacturer No:?05596700

The seemingly claustrophobic story of a man imprisoned in his paralyzed body becomes a dazzling and expansive movie about love, imagination, and the will to live. After a stroke, Jean-Dominique Bauby (Mathieu Amalric, Kings and Queen) can only move his left eye--and through that eye he learns to communicate, one letter at a time. With the help of his speech therapist (Marie-Josee Croze, Munich) and a stenographer (Anne Consigny, Anna M.), Bauby writes the stunning memoir The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. But such a plot summary makes the movie sound like lofty, self-important medicine--far from it. Director Julian Schnabel (Basquiat, Before Night Falls), working from an elegant screenplay by Ronald Harwood (The Pianist) and with an oustanding cast (which also includes Frantic's Emmanuelle Seigner as Bauby's neglected wife), has created a movie as engrossing and hypnotic as a thriller, a movie that wrestles with mortality yet has stubborn streaks of dark humor and eroticism, that portrays a man who overcomes unimaginable obstacles but refuses to paint him as a saint. Schnabel was once dismissed as a pompous and overblown painter, but he's crafted an intimate visual poem, a humble sonata about life at its most fragile. --Bret Fetzer

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