Review of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007) by David C — 29 May 2010

It can, at this point, be said, that life is anything but predictable. There have been those who, within the very chaos of life, have found subtle reminders of what it means to truly live. Embracing each moment, regardless of its context, reminds us that life is not a succession of seconds, building tirelessly toward minutes and days and years, but rather one unique opportunity after another to experience the grandeur of the now. That it would take a person in the condition of a vegetative state, a person whose life has been peerlessly reduced to living nothing but the moment, to offer us a window into the possibilities of hope, is certainly unpredictable. After watching The Diving Bell and The Butterfly, I am convinced that this is exactly the legacy that author Jean-Dominique Bauby left to those who take the time to see it.

The film, an adaptation of Bauby's memoir directed by Julian Schnabel, is a journey into Bauby or Jean-Do's (as he is referred to in the film) experience of life after suffering a massive stroke which left him in a condition called Locked-in syndrome.

To resuscitate means to restore or revive life, but my initial reactions to the Locked-in syndrom in which Jean-Do finds himself, is that he was anything but alive. Entirely paralyzed, except for his left eye, what he was living, was, in my initial assessment, hardly worthy of the term life.

One could hardly blame Jean-Do for asking for death, and while the film is certainly not a moral debate over the Right-to-die vs. Right-to-life issue, it touches on it ever so briefly. Ultimately, as the memoir stands to prove, Jean-Do chose life, saying that he "decided to stop pittying [himself]" and suggesting that "Other than [his] eye, two things aren't paralyzed, [his] imagination and [his] memory." The film unfolds as a stunningly visual escape into the man's imagination and into his memory.

Approached with Schnable's subtle directorial touch, and impressively acted by Mathieu Amalric as Jean-Do, and a supporting cast boasting an understated but equally impressive role-call of European actors. The singular Max von Sydow as Papinou Bauby, Jean-Do's father, stands out, acting in one of his many fine roles. von Sydow and Amalric colaborate in numerous scenes to portray and flesh out a father-son relationship, scenes that are increasingly touching and achingly emotional.

Ultimately, Jean-Do's experience serves to remind us all that perseverance, humility, and humor, combined with the imagination and the power of the mind - even when locked-in to a broken body, provide all that is necessary to live, and to inspire. The Diving Bell and The Butterfly is a fine film - about an impressive life, and the unexpected places where it can be found.