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Created May 22, 2008 12:45AM PST • Edited May 22, 2008 12:45AM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Perfect 5.0

   The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is based on a novel written by Jean-Dominique Bauby, the editor if Elle Magazine, about his life after suffering a stroke. As he became completely paralyzed after this, he completed the novel just by blinking his eyes. It took thousands of blinks to complete it and the French alphabet in order of frequency of use to translate these thoughts. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly shows what this process was like and what Jean-Dominique’s life had become after his stroke.
   The film opens up when Jean-Do (Amalric) has just awakened from his coma after 3 weeks. He has developed a neurovascular condition which puts his brain stem out of action, cutting off the link from the brain to the spinal cord. Jean- Do nearly died and the doctors say that all they can really do is pro-long his life. When he looks at his reflection, he barely recognizes himself. He had to have his eye sewn up and his lip is severely swollen. Jean-Do can’t talk, walk, or swallow. The only movement he can make is to blink his one eye. Henriette (Croze), his speech therapist, uses this one movement to work with him. She recites every letter of the alphabet and when Jean-Do blinks, it means he is selecting that letter. This continues until he finishes what he wishes to communicate. Henriette is constantly there and any time, he looks like there might be something he might want to say Henriette begins reciting the alphabet again.
   Jean-Do has trouble going on, not being in control of the tiny movements that he used to take for granted. Now more than anything though, he regrets not being their for his children and their mother, Céline. He was always a busy man and although he loves them, he didn’t give them the time that they deserved. Now he will never get he chance to. There are a few occasions that he is with them. Although, he enjoys seeing them happy and enjoying life, he can’t help but feel helpless. It is the same routine for him everyday, devout of meaning. He does enjoy his time with Henriette, but still finds himself searching for a way to have his voice heard. Henriette helps him do this. It turns out that he had a contract with Elle to publish a book. She arranges it with Elle for this to still happen. They work continuously, to share his experiences and out look on life after this horrible trauma.

4. Acting

   Perfect 5.0

   Mathieu Amalric does an absolutely incredible job portraying Jean-Dominique Bauby, a very difficult role to take on. He is almost playing two different characters here, one before the stroke and the one after. Before he was full of life, vibrant, and ambitious. After the stroke can even be divided in to two parts; how the rest of the world sees him and through the life that is left in him internally, which almost seem like polar opposites. The only person’s view that helps connect these are Harriette, wonderfully played by Marie-Josée Croze. The amount of patience, hope, and understanding she has for Jean-Do is incredible. Emmanuelle Seigner does very well also as Céline. You can tell that she is really desperate for this last chance for her children to have time with their father. She knows it is hard for everyone, but although different, Jean-Do is still the same man. These two woman in his life, really try to convince him that this isn’t the end of his life and hope should not be lost.

5. Male Stars Perfect 5.0

6. Female Stars Perfect 5.0

7. Female Costars Perfect 5.0

8. Male Costars Perfect 5.0

10. Film

    Perfect 5.0

    The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is a simply magnificent film on many levels. One of the most obvious are the cinematographic achievements. All the different views, showing the different life styles, and just the pure beauty of the film was brought to the full level because of this. It showed many different point of view in the film. Jean-Dominique was the narrator through the whole thing, but we saw him in different perspectives. When we are seeing him in his old life, rapid in and out bright lighting is present, representing his flashy lifestyle. However, it is really the scenes where he is with his family where you get to see the person he truly was. He really cared about all of his family, even if he didn’t always know how to show it. We automatically start off the film, almost as if we are actually inside of Jean-Dominique’s eyelids. This translates to us the intensity of being in his position and how tedious it all is. There are also shots where we see him in this same state, but from the outside perspective. Visually he looks like such a lifeless being, which contradicts the understanding we have of him intellectually. We hear his thoughts through each moment, much quicker than anyone else can, forming a higher bond with him.
    One thing about Jean-Dominique’s communication, which I have to highly respect is even though he was so severely disadvantaged, he still communicated beautiful language. He showed this marvelously in his book, but at times even when he wasn’t working on the book, he took time to say things in the most elegantly descriptive way. It is hard to even imagine ourselves in Jean-Dominique’s situation. If we were though and had to resort to going through the entire alphabet every time we had to say something, most of us would probably take the short cut, just keeping things simple. Jean-Dominique doesn’t do this and prides himself on his language since it is really all he has left; he is a writer to the death. This really makes us appreciate the little things that we can do and that we are able to interact with around us on a daily basis. Another thing I really appreciated about the film is although majority of it is very solemn, it still shows the life of the mind and imagination. Since these are two of the only things Jean-Do can control, they are severely heightened. His mind is obviously very powerful. He even still manages to laugh on the inside. Jean-Do’s mind never sleeps and his imagination is always fly. As terrible as this situation is, I also think it is a good point; the mind and the imagination are the single most important things in life and beyond. No matter what other capabilities we might have, we could not truly experience anything without these, we would just be robots, not conscious of anything. The diving bell may be a physical incapable body viewed as being different and inferior, but the butterfly of life and even more so, existence will always be fluttering free.

11. Direction Perfect 5.0

12. Play Perfect 5.0

13. Music Perfect 5.0

14. Visuals Perfect 5.0
15. Content

16. Edge

    Tame 1.1

    The most violent part of the film is simply be uncomfortable. This complete handicap of the body we see is so hard, especially after witnessing how vibrant the mind is, wanting to be able to express itself.

17. Sex Innocent 1.1

18. Violence Gentle 1.1

19. Rudeness Polite 1.1

21. Reality

    Natural 1.0

    The Diving Bell and the Butterfly can be difficult to watch and has a heavily pessimistic and depressing tone at times, but this is only an accurate portrayal of one man’s sufferings to ultimately see that even with the worst things there is always something good to come with it, even if you can’t always see it.

22. Circumstantial Natural 1.0

23. Biological Natural 1.0

24. Physical Natural 1.0