The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007)
“Le scaphandre et le papillon”.
Biography, Drama |
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is a French biographical drama film directed by Julian Schnabel and written by Ronald Harwood. Based on Jean-Dominique Bauby’s 1997 memoir of the same name, the film depicts Bauby’s life after suffering a massive stroke that left him with a condition known as locked-in syndrome. Bauby is played by Mathieu Amalric.
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly won awards at the Cannes Film Festival, the Golden Globes, the BAFTAs, and the César Awards, and received four Oscar nominations. Several critics later listed it as one of the best films of its decade. It ranks in BBC’s 100 Greatest Films of the 21st Century.
The first third of the film is told from the main character’s, Jean-Dominique Bauby (Mathieu Amalric), or Jean-Do as his friends call him, first person perspective. The film opens as Bauby wakes from his three-week coma in a hospital in Berck-sur-Mer, France. After an initial rather over-optimistic analysis from one doctor, a neurologist explains that he has locked-in syndrome, an extremely rare condition in which the patient is almost completely physically paralyzed, but remains mentally normal. At first, the viewer primarily hears Bauby’s “thoughts” (he thinks that he is speaking but no one hears him), which are inaccessible to the other characters (who are seen through his one functioning eye).
A speech therapist and physical therapist try to help Bauby become as functional as possible. Bauby cannot speak, but he develops a system of communication with his speech and language therapist by blinking his left eye as she reads a list of letters to laboriously spell out his messages, letter by letter.
Director: Julian Schnabel
Writers: Ronald Harwood (screenplay), Jean-Dominique Bauby (book)
Stars: Mathieu Amalric, Emmanuelle Seigner, Marie-Josée Croze, Anne Consigny, Patrick Chesnais, Niels Arestrup, Olatz López Garmendia
Cast:
| Mathieu Amalric | … | Jean-Do |
| Emmanuelle Seigner | … | Céline |
| Marie-Josée Croze | … | Henriette Roi |
| Anne Consigny | … | Claude |
| Patrick Chesnais | … | Le Docteur Lepage |
| Niels Arestrup | … | Roussin |
| Olatz López Garmendia | … | Marie Lopez |
| Jean-Pierre Cassel | … | Père Lucien et le Vendeur |
| Marina Hands | … | Joséphine |
| Max von Sydow | … | Papinou |
| Gérard Watkins | … | Le Docteur Cocheton |
| Théo Sampaio | … | Théophile |
| Fiorella Campanella | … | Céleste |
| Talina Boyaci | … | Hortense |
| Isaach De Bankolé | … | Laurent |
| Emma de Caunes | … | L’Impératrice Eugénie |
| Jean-Philippe Écoffey | … | Le Docteur Mercier et Nortier de Villefort |
| Nicolas Le Riche | … | Nijinski |
| Anne Alvaro | … | Betty |
| Françoise Lebrun | … | Madame Bauby |
| Zinedine Soualem | … | Joubert |
| Georges Roche | … | Fourneau |
| Agathe de La Fontaine | … | Inès |
| Yves-Marie Coppin | … | Le pêcheur |
| François Delaive | … | L’infirmier |
| Franck Victor | … | Paul |
| Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre | … | Diane (as Laure de Clermont) |
| Virginie Delmotte | … | L’infirmière |
| Daniel Lapostolle | … | Aide-soignant 1 |
| Philippe Roux | … | Aide-soignant 2 |
| François Filloux | … | L’infirmier de nuit |
| Elvis Polanski | … | Jean-Do enfant |
| Cedric Brelet von Sydow | … | Papinou jeune |
| Sara Séguéla | … | La paraplégique Lourdes |
| Vasile Negru | … | Le Violoniste |
| Marie Meyer | … | Mannequin |
| Ilze Bajare | … | Mannequin |
| Anna Chyzh | … | Mannequin |
| Antoine Bréant | … | Assistant Jean-Baptiste Mondino |
| Azzedine Alaïa | … | Self |
| Michael Wincott | … | Fashion Photographer |
| Jean-Baptiste Mondino | … | Self |
| Lenny Kravitz | … | Self |
| Farida Khelfa | … | Self |
Sources: imdb & wikipedia
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