I was living in London in 1995 and so, when the editor of “Elle France,” Jean-Dominique Bauby, suffered a catastrophic stroke that left him paralyzed, except for the use of his left eye, it was all over our news. Wikipedia describes this “locked in syndrome” as “the closet thing to being buried alive:” some people still have full body sensation without any ability to move. Bauby’s intellect and emotions remained intact, but he couldn’t even chase a fly from his nose. His romantic and family relationships were complex and difficult – the girl he loved wouldn’t visit – but he was incapable of speaking over a phone to try to deal with these situations.
With one blinking eye, he was trained to use a communication system that involves a helper reciting the entire alphabet (sequenced by frequency of use) until he blinked to mark the right letter. As Bauby had a prior book contract with a French publisher, he eventually decided to write a book about life inside the clinch of this paralysis. The publisher provided him with a young assistant and she took blinking dictation every day. Those of us in Europe followed his progress and when the book came out, it was an instant bestseller. Bauby died 10 days after the book was published. I finished this remarkable book the day before he died.
“The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” (Le Scaphandre et le papillon) is an extraordinary film based on the book. The director Julian Schnabel (“Before Night Falls,” “Basquiat”) made all the right decisions. We often see the world from the point of view of Bauby (played by Mathieu Amalric), not the least the dreadful experience of getting his right eye sewn shut – an unforgettable image. We live inside his imagination and his despair. Through Bauby, we begin to realize how many people are shut in, in their own ways. His lonely, scared father (played brilliantly by Max Von Sydow) suffers with increasingly limited mobility – father and son are separately isolated.
Remarkably, “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” is not a depressing film. There is triumph and there is coping and there are life’s obstacles, but the main character, a writer, has, by writing, continued to live the life he chose for himself. There is love, unrequited and requited, and there are the seasons to observe. Everything has changed for him, but he finds a way to transform his experience through his art, with a blink of the eye. Schnabel has taken that art, that book, and made it into a faithful and tender movie.
what a wonderful and evocative review Sue. inspires me to read the book and see the film.
Posted by: lynne friedli | 20 January 2008 at 04:33
thanks for the review of the diving bell and the butterfly. now, i want to see the movie and read the book!
jaya
Posted by: jaya | 20 January 2008 at 04:42
I saw this extraordinary film and I recommend it wholeheartedly.
Bauby was amazing, and the film is beautiful. Imagine dictating a book by blinking each letter of each word.
The film is disturbing, yes, but well worth the disquiet. After all, we leave the movie theater able to walk, talk, make love, and flick a fly off our nose. I left the theater awed and grateful -- both for the experience of the film and for being able to return to my own blessed life.
Joan Price
author of Better Than I Ever Expected: Straight Talk about Sex After Sixty (http://www.joanprice.com/BetterThanExpected.htm)
Join us -- we're talking about ageless sexuality at http://www.betterthanieverexpected.blogspot.com
Posted by: Joan Price | 28 January 2008 at 16:26