Review of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007) by Mike I — 05 Jun 2018

Hello, all! Do you find yourself overly happy about your life? Been plagued by a bout of cheerfulness you can't stand? Could you stand to have your mood dropped to something less merry? Then do I have the movie for you! I used to think the most depressing, joy stomping movie ever made was the adaptation to Cormac McCarthy's The Road starring Viggo Mortensen. A new movie holds that spot for me now and it is The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.

"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" is, first and foremost, an amazingly produced and directed film. I know nothing of French cinema but I was astounded by the writing, the acting, but most of all the camera work. For once, the 1st person POV worked in conveying how stifling, frustrating, and claustrophobic it can be to live in a body that does not work but still have your mind intact. The first 20 minutes alone make this movie impressive. The actual story is also impressive in that Jean-Dominic Bauby, through sheer force of will and with help, was able to dictate an entire memoir, letter by letter, while suffering from locked-in syndrome.

Therefore, the real issue is can the individual viewer handle this movie? It is not entertaining. What humor it has comes from Jean-Do's snark at dealing with his situation. It is not grueling, but it is a heavy movie. Its verisimilitude will trigger a lot of emotions inside the viewer. That's what it did for me. I know a lot of the blurbs for this film say it is uplifting and a triumph of the human spirit. That triumph is not so much uplifting as it is hard fought for. YMMV but for me, at the end, I just felt drained. It is not a movie to just watch casually, even if you like movies with similar subjects.

So who is this movie for? I highly recommend it to people who have friends or family who provide long term care to a loved one in a situation similar to Jean-Do Bauby's. I think many caregivers become invisible, sucked into the lives of those they care for. I also think those afflicted like Jean-Do also become objects; this movie allows us to see they are not. The movie shows how much these people go through. The main emotion one feels after watching this movie is empathy. I think the world could definitely use more of that because I don't really think one understands this world unless one has been in this world. Still, this is a difficult movie to sit through.