EXCEPTIONAL: Mathieu Almaric as Jean-Dominique Bauby and Marie-Josée Croze as Henriette in a scene from Le Scaphandre et le Papillon/The Diving Bell and The Butterfly.Image: Miramax Films, www.thedivingbellandthebutterfly-themovie.com
Windows To The Soul by Linh
Le scaphandre et le papillon/The Diving Bell and The Butterfly is based on the book about the true story of French author and editor of Elle magazine Jean-Dominique Bauby, who suffers a stroke at age 43. After twenty days in a coma, he wakes to find he's almost speechless. Bauby could only move his mouth a little, grunt, and blink his left eyelid. His rare condition is called Locked-In syndrome and has been made into a moving and beautiful film.
Director Julian Schnabel had Ron Harwood's script for Le scaphandre et le papillon/The Diving Bell and The Butterfly changed from its original English version to French in order to remain true to Bauby's life story.
Schnabel and cinematographer Janusz Kaminski brilliantly provides the visual intimacy by making the camera become Bauby's eye in most scenes. This technique effectively enables the audience to experience everything from Bauby's perspective, engaging the viewer on a deeper and profound level.
Mathieu Almaric gives a commanding performance as the wheelchair bound Bauby, who is capable of exuding charisma and charm with the blink of an eye.
Marie-Josée Croze is Henriette, the speech therapist, who teaches Bauby a communication code by reciting to him the most used French letters of the alphabet and getting Bauby to blink once for 'Yes' and twice for 'No' to spell out words.
Croze is sensitive and highly spirited as the affable Henriette and manages to keep Bauby the centre of attention even though the camera (Bauby's eye) is focussed on her.
Emmanuelle Seigner plays Céline, Bauby's estranged partner and the mother of his children, whose desperate attempts to reach out to him fails. Seigner displays plenty of passion and endurance as Bauby's long suffering partner with many poignant moments of spending time with him and the children.
Max Von Sydow stars as Bauby's father Papinou, and succeeds in bringing joy in scenes before Bauby's stroke and sadness while his son becomes teary-eyed as Papinou speaks to him on the telephone.
Le Scaphandre et le Papillon/The Diving Bell and The Butterfly is a cinematic marvel that combines present scenes with flashbacks of Bauby enjoying life to the fullest with a successful career, surrounded by beautiful women and spending time with his children and his father. It also takes the viewer into the vividly wild imagination of a man who feels trapped inside his body; underwater and immobile like a diving bell, yet his consciousness is free and flits about energetically like a butterfly.
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