The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Tuesday, 05 Feb 2008 14:24
Mathieu Amalric and Marie-Josee Croze in the Oscar-nominated film.
Directed by Julian Schnabel, out February 8th in cinemas, starring Mathieu Amalric, Emmanuelle Seignier, Marie-Josee Croze, Max von Sydow, running time 112 mins.
In a nutshell…
Inspiring tale of indomitable will.
What's it all about?
When charismatic magazine editor Jean-Dominique Bauby (Amalric) suffers a massive stroke at 43, he is struck with a rare condition known as 'locked-in syndrome', leaving him paralysed from head to toe, with his left eye the only functioning physical feature remaining.
Jean-Do's fierce intelligent and droll wit remain, however, and as he struggles to escape the titular diving bell of claustrophobia in which his affliction has encased him, he develops an alphabet of blinking and painstakingly tells his story in the form of a novel.
Adapted from the late Bauby's real-life memoir, director Julian Schnabel paints a deeply moving, consistently uplifting picture of a life irrevocably changed.
Who's in it?
French actor Mathieu Amalric amazes as Jean-Do, seamlessly switching between the paralysis of the bedridden author and his rakish, able-bodied former incarnation. Recently cast as the villain in the dodgily-titled next Bond film Quantum of Solace, the swagger he exhibits in flashback scenes bodes well for a testosterone-fuelled conflict with Daniel Craig's 007.
Emmanuelle Seignier is heartbreaking as the wounded, abandoned wife of Jean-Do's three children while Marie-Josee Croze puts in a tender and expressive performance as his earnest speech therapist.
As an example…
"Think of me as a friend." - Dr Lepage
"Just be a doctor." (internal) - Jean-Do
"I decided to stop pitying myself. Other than my eye, two things aren't paralyzed, my imagination and my memory." - Jean-Do
Likelihood of a trip to the Oscars?
Schnabel was awarded the best director award at last year's Cannes film festival and with his remarkable portrayal of Jean-Do's incredible journey, to miss out on an Oscar nomination would have been criminal. While much of the movie disarms, shot from Jean-Do's single ocular point of view, the flights of fancy in his still-thriving imagination are beautifully rendered and hugely affecting, confirming the power of memory without succumbing to mawkishness or sentimentality.
Though Schnabel is likely to miss out in the best director category to PT Anderson or the Coen brothers, nods for cinematography and film editing could be the film's best shot at an Academy award while Ronald Harwood's screenplay captures Jean-Do's supposedly-unfilmable memoir with a deft touch.
What the others say
"An astonishing, deeply moving film, Schnabel's third film is also his masterpiece, thanks to extraordinary direction, stunning camerawork, a terrific script and an Oscar-worthy central performance from Amalric." - Matthew Turner, View London
"A gloriously unlocked experience, with some of the freest and most creative uses of the camera and some of the most daring, cruel, and heartbreaking emotional explorations that have appeared in recent movies." - David Denby, New Yorker
So is it any good?
It's an outstanding piece of work, cinematically astounding, enormously touching, and constantly joyous. We are allowed to appreciate Jean-Do for the remorseful, flawed man he was, rather than having sympathy pulled from us through a manipulative score and cynically-placed emotional beats.
Though all of the cast do superb work, Amalric outshines all with a stunning performance, made all the more laudable by Schnabel's admission that much of Jean-Do's internal monologue reactions and wisecracks were ad-libbed responses from Amalric himself. It's a winningly compelling performance of a real, brilliant man cut down in his prime.
Faithful to the book's intelligent and dense structure, it's a wonderful, life-affirming testament to human strength and a much-needed look at a terrifying condition affecting more people than fully realised.
9/10
Lewis Bazley
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