Movie Review The Diving Bell And The Butterfly

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2007 – Spoiler alerts A true story of hope conquering illness and paralysis. Jean-Dominique Bauby truly had everything. He was the editor of Elle fashion magazine, but a stroke had a tragic devastating effect on his life. Most stroke victims suffer partial paralysis, losing use of up to half of their bodily function, on the left or right side of the body. Bauby suffered from the rare Locked-In Syndrome where the paralysis is total. He was left only able to move one eye at all. A therapist helped him develop a communication system, speaking in blinks, through which he wa able to dictate and write his life story, The Diving Bell And The Butterfly. Bauby saw his body as the encasement of a diving suit, as worn by Victorian deep sea divers, restrictive, claustrophobic, preventing him from free contact with the World. The butterfly refers to hi flights of memory and imagination, and the people flitting in and out of his restricted field of vision. Much of the film is told in his inner voice, with the camera seeing what his one good eye saw, but gradually the camera move round to seeing him too. Mathieu Amalric plays Bauby beautifully in a very well filmed study of an amazing brave struggle. The cinemaphotography is incredible. Bauby sadly died just ten days after his book was completed but he leaves the World an amazing legacy, brought to remarkable life by one of the most beautiful movies ever made. Arthur Chappell