"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" is a difficult movie to watch. However, given the subject matter, they manage to do an excellent job. And, since it's currently on the IMDb Top 250 List (currently #243), obviously a lot of people found it to be worth seeing.
When the film begins, you see what the world looks like when a man (Jean-Dominique Bauby) very, very slowly awakens for the first time in weeks. It seems he's been in a coma and this is the result of a stroke--a stroke occurring to a vibrant man who was only in his early 40s at the time. This is possibly the best part of the film and it caught my attention--the fascinating use of very unusual camera angles, focus and close-ups.
After this preliminary examination is complete, one thing is obvious to the doctors---Jean-Dominque cannot talk or communicate. He THINKS he's communicating but no one can hear me and he's locked inside his broken body. Soon the doctors tell him he has something called a 'locked-in syndrome'. In other words, he might never re-learn to communicate or move--this is a horribly scary diagnosis. However, through the course of the film, he learns that he can move his one eye and with that he then learns to communicate.
After working with therapists, Jean-Dominique has an unusual request--he wants his therapist to call a publisher. It seems that he (who was the real life editor of 'Elle' magazine) had an existing contract to write a book--and now he wanted to dictate his memoirs! To do this, he had to use a painfully slow methods involving blinks to spell out every word of the text! Long, complicated but, amazingly, quite possible--resulting an an actual book "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly"--which also became the title of this movie.
I could say more about the film but it's best to just see it yourself. I should point out that although it's listed as a French-language film on IMDb, somehow (perhaps much later) an English language dub was also made--using many of the actual voices of folks in the movie (which IS unusual). All in all, I was surprised how watchable the dub was, as I usually avoid dubs because they are done so poorly and so much of the original film is often lost. All in all, it's an exceptional film.
By the way, if you DO watch the film be aware that there is some nudity (in his dreams and flashbacks) and a few of the scenes in the film are tough to watch. It's really not a kids film.
When the film begins, you see what the world looks like when a man (Jean-Dominique Bauby) very, very slowly awakens for the first time in weeks. It seems he's been in a coma and this is the result of a stroke--a stroke occurring to a vibrant man who was only in his early 40s at the time. This is possibly the best part of the film and it caught my attention--the fascinating use of very unusual camera angles, focus and close-ups.
After this preliminary examination is complete, one thing is obvious to the doctors---Jean-Dominque cannot talk or communicate. He THINKS he's communicating but no one can hear me and he's locked inside his broken body. Soon the doctors tell him he has something called a 'locked-in syndrome'. In other words, he might never re-learn to communicate or move--this is a horribly scary diagnosis. However, through the course of the film, he learns that he can move his one eye and with that he then learns to communicate.
After working with therapists, Jean-Dominique has an unusual request--he wants his therapist to call a publisher. It seems that he (who was the real life editor of 'Elle' magazine) had an existing contract to write a book--and now he wanted to dictate his memoirs! To do this, he had to use a painfully slow methods involving blinks to spell out every word of the text! Long, complicated but, amazingly, quite possible--resulting an an actual book "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly"--which also became the title of this movie.
I could say more about the film but it's best to just see it yourself. I should point out that although it's listed as a French-language film on IMDb, somehow (perhaps much later) an English language dub was also made--using many of the actual voices of folks in the movie (which IS unusual). All in all, I was surprised how watchable the dub was, as I usually avoid dubs because they are done so poorly and so much of the original film is often lost. All in all, it's an exceptional film.
By the way, if you DO watch the film be aware that there is some nudity (in his dreams and flashbacks) and a few of the scenes in the film are tough to watch. It's really not a kids film.