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The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

Original title: Le scaphandre et le papillon
  • 2007
  • PG-13
  • 1h 52m
IMDb RATING
8.0/10
112K
YOUR RATING
Mathieu Amalric and Emmanuelle Seigner in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007)
The official U.S. trailer for The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, directed by Julian Schnabel.
Play trailer2:19
6 Videos
99+ Photos
DocudramaMedical DramaBiographyDrama

The true story of Elle editor Jean-Dominique Bauby who suffers a stroke and has to live with an almost totally paralyzed body; only his left eye isn't paralyzed.The true story of Elle editor Jean-Dominique Bauby who suffers a stroke and has to live with an almost totally paralyzed body; only his left eye isn't paralyzed.The true story of Elle editor Jean-Dominique Bauby who suffers a stroke and has to live with an almost totally paralyzed body; only his left eye isn't paralyzed.

  • Director
    • Julian Schnabel
  • Writers
    • Ronald Harwood
    • Jean-Dominique Bauby
  • Stars
    • Mathieu Amalric
    • Emmanuelle Seigner
    • Marie-Josée Croze
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    8.0/10
    112K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Julian Schnabel
    • Writers
      • Ronald Harwood
      • Jean-Dominique Bauby
    • Stars
      • Mathieu Amalric
      • Emmanuelle Seigner
      • Marie-Josée Croze
    • 218User reviews
    • 197Critic reviews
    • 92Metascore
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Nominated for 4 Oscars
      • 68 wins & 107 nominations total

    Videos6

    Theatrical trailer: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
    Trailer 2:19
    Theatrical trailer: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
    The Diving Bell And The Butterfly: Clip 1
    Clip 1:26
    The Diving Bell And The Butterfly: Clip 1
    The Diving Bell And The Butterfly: Clip 1
    Clip 1:26
    The Diving Bell And The Butterfly: Clip 1
    The Diving Bell And The Butterfly: Clip 3
    Clip 1:08
    The Diving Bell And The Butterfly: Clip 3
    The Diving Bell And The Butterfly: Clip 5
    Clip 1:28
    The Diving Bell And The Butterfly: Clip 5
    The Diving Bell And The Butterfly: Clip 4
    Clip 1:05
    The Diving Bell And The Butterfly: Clip 4
    The Diving Bell And The Butterfly: Clip 2
    Clip 0:59
    The Diving Bell And The Butterfly: Clip 2

    Photos123

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    Top cast44

    Edit
    Mathieu Amalric
    Mathieu Amalric
    • Jean-Do
    Emmanuelle Seigner
    Emmanuelle Seigner
    • Céline
    Marie-Josée Croze
    Marie-Josée Croze
    • Henriette Roi
    Anne Consigny
    Anne Consigny
    • Claude
    Patrick Chesnais
    Patrick Chesnais
    • Le Docteur Lepage
    Niels Arestrup
    Niels Arestrup
    • Roussin
    Olatz López Garmendia
    Olatz López Garmendia
    • Marie Lopez
    Jean-Pierre Cassel
    Jean-Pierre Cassel
    • Père Lucien et le Vendeur
    Marina Hands
    Marina Hands
    • Joséphine
    Max von Sydow
    Max von Sydow
    • Papinou
    Gérard Watkins
    Gérard Watkins
    • Le Docteur Cocheton
    Théo Sampaio
    • Théophile
    Fiorella Campanella
    • Céleste
    Talina Boyaci
    • Hortense
    Isaach De Bankolé
    Isaach De Bankolé
    • Laurent
    Emma de Caunes
    Emma de Caunes
    • L'Impératrice Eugénie
    Jean-Philippe Écoffey
    Jean-Philippe Écoffey
    • Le Docteur Mercier et Nortier de Villefort
    Nicolas Le Riche
    • Nijinski
    • Director
      • Julian Schnabel
    • Writers
      • Ronald Harwood
      • Jean-Dominique Bauby
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews218

    8.0111.7K
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    Featured reviews

    1023pictures

    Cinematic Art achieved

    One of the best films in years, and in artistic cinematic terms, one of the best films I've ever seen. That's a heavy statement to make, but off the top of my head, I cannot think of another film that explores the inner workings of a character so intimately and believably, while blending cinematography, sound effects, and musical score in such harmony -- but in a fashion we (as American's at least) are not trained to enjoy. I felt the French influence strongly cinematically and, of course in the dialogue, but the writing and acting was so fluid it felt like the subtitles weren't even there.

    The film deals with a rare physical condition, and I was physically there with the character from start to finish. I felt each moment as if it were my own. That is a rare accomplishment in cinema. Julian Schnabel directed a stellar cast. Mathieu Amalric was unusually charming as Jean-Dominique Bauby, and Max Von Sydow was heartbreaking as his lonely widower father. The female leads were all equally impressive as they were beautiful. I don not mean to generalize them, but they were all so excellent that they blend seamlessly in my mind, in terms of performance.

    Overall, this film was as pure a cinematic experience as I've witnessed in a long time. A true artist turns out a film that is truly a piece of art. Julian Schnabel takes his time in between films, but with work like this, there's no need to rush. Like a good painting, one can enjoy it for a lifetime.
    8samuelding85

    Release Yourself From the Diving Bell and Free Like a Butterfly

    The former France ELLE editor Jean-Dominique Bauby quoted his life as being trapped in a diving bell and free like a butterfly, and that was how he describes his life after a stroke left him only able to blink his left eye. The Diving Bell and The Butterfly has become the title of his memoirs, which has become a best seller which Bauby will never get to see.

    American born director Julian Schnabel picked up the memoir and made it into a movie that will re-examine the way a person will view his life. From the way the movie was presented to the audience, it might seems to be difficult to digest, but if you watch them once again, you will find that the flow of the movie follows closely to what is written on the book.

    The story begins with Jean Dominique (Mathieu Amalric) finding himself woke up in a hospital,unable to move his body. Upon hearing from the doctor that a stroke left him unable to move, except his left eye, he found himself trapped in a prison: his body. He describes his body as a diving bell, where death sentence prisoner would wore the diving bell and drowned in the sea. With doctors and therapists taking care of him, he found himself living without dignity.

    With the help of Henriteet (Marie Jozee Croze), a speech therapist, she uses a unique method of communicating with Jean thru pronouncing the alphabets and Jean would form a word or sentence by blinking the eye. After getting to know her much more better, Jean found his way to survive thru the disabilities: imagination and beautiful memories. Both set his spirit free, and he feels like he is flying like a butterfly. And thus he began writing his memoirs of his life.

    The story is told through the view from Jean's left eye and reaction in his mind after the stroke. This pulls the audience and the inner world of Jean closer, and audience could have a feel of putting themselves into Jean's shoes. From the effort the cast and crew puts in the movie, we can tell that the movie is follow everything accordingly to the book, without any adjustments.

    The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is the movie that you need if you want to take a break from normal popcorn flicks, or a movie that makes you think through about yourself, and how you live life to the fullest.
    8simonlitton

    A moving story told in an intriguing fashion

    Saw this last night in Brussels (it's been on release for a while now). I was worried that it would be arty and depressing, but I was pleasantly surprised by how absorbing and moving it was. The opening scenes are striking, and communicate well the main character's feelings of claustrophobia and helplessness in the immediate aftermath of his accident, but as he attempts to rebuild his life and learn how to communicate, the film (and the visual style) opens up, even making room for some welcome flashes of humour. Performances are excellent, but the real stars here are the writer(s) and director, for taking us so convincingly into the character's world.
    9wisewebwoman

    What movies should be

    The best film so far - that I've seen - in 2008. A totally artistic endeavour that succeeds on every level. Expecting a somewhat depressing movie, I found it to be the exact opposite. Uplifting, joyful, and inspirational while showing a man (played by Mathieu Amalric) completely paralyzed, apart from the ability to blink his left eye.

    There is a seamless blend of cinematography with the music to enhance the inner life of the main character, the viewer is at one with his inner frustration, his soaring imagination, his follies, faults and lusts. At times it is humorous, at others there are indelible vignettes - one of the long term partner (beautfully played by EmmanuelleSeigner) assisting his lover to communicate with him by telephone. Another is the incredible Max Von Sydow in a riveting performance as the elderly heart-broken father.

    The film is based on a true story and it must have been an enormous challenge to bring this story to the screen. Julian Schnabel directed the amazing cast and brought an artistry to the project that is extremely rare in film making. To capture the world as seen through the eye of a paralyzed man and make it so fascinating took enormous skill.

    I was captivated and enchanted and would definitely see it again. 9 out of 10. Not to be missed.
    10howard.schumann

    A film of enormous power

    Though not paralyzed from head to toe like French fashion magazine editor Jean-Dominique Bauby, many of us are in the "locked-in" syndrome – locked into our resentments and our fears, a rigidity that sours us on life and keep us estranged from family and friends. Julian Schnabel's masterful The Diving Bell and the Butterfly allows us to better appreciate the simple pleasures in life by dramatizing the debilitating trauma faced by the 43-year old editor who suffered a massive stroke that left him unable to speak or to move his head and whose only means of communication was to blink one eye – one blink for yes, two blinks for no.

    Beautifully shot by cinematographer Janusz Kaminski with a screenplay by Ronald Harwood, the film begins with Bauby's confused awakening in the hospital after twenty days in a coma. We see only a blur of images and claustrophobic close-ups that mirror the patient's mental state. We can make out a hospital room and doctors and nurses offering reassuring thoughts. We hear Bauby's words but the doctors do not and we know that while his body isn't functioning, his mind is as sharp as ever. With the help of a speech therapist (Marie-Josée Croze), and a very patient transcriber, a code is developed that allows Bauby (Mathieu Amalric), called Jean-Do by his friends and family, to compose a book based on his experience.

    When the therapist recites the most-frequently used letters in the French alphabet, Bauby blinks when he wants to choose a letter. The book, on which the film is based, was published in 1997, shortly after Bauby's death. One of the most dramatic moments in the film occurs near the beginning when the first thought Jean-Do communicates is that he wants to die. Feeling rejected and angry, the therapist stomps out of the room but apologizes and comes back shortly to resume the treatment. We do not actually see Jean-Do until about a third of the way through the film but we can hear his thoughts which are in turn angry, funny, and bitterly ironic. Bauby compares his body to a deep-sea diver being suffocated in a diving suit and his poetic imagination to a butterfly.

    It is Jean-Do's sense of humor that keeps the film as light as it can be under the circumstances and his eloquence that keeps us riveted. When we finally do see him with his immobile body and his drooping lower lip, it is still a shock but we smile when he says that "I look like I came out of a vat of formaldehyde." Much of the film vividly explores the editor's imagination and the camera takes us on some wild rides that include images of Nijinsky, Empress Eugénie, Marlon Brando, and Jean-Do in his imagination skiing and surfing. Some of the most emotional moments occur when he greets his young children at the beach for the first time after his stroke, a telephone "conversation" with his 92-year old father (Max Von Sydow), and flashbacks to his youth - driving with his girlfriend, shaving his father, supervising a fashion shoot, and taking his son on a trip in a new sports car. Bauby's wife Céline (Emmanuelle Seigner), whom he left for exotic girlfriend Ines (Agathe de La Fontaine), visits him in the hospital and comforts him while Ines cannot bring herself to see him, saying that she wants to remember him the way he was.

    Realizing how his life had been less than exemplary, his stroke becomes an opportunity for redemption and allows him, if not to cleanse his soul, to discover that humanity lies in his consciousness not in material things or sexuality. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is a film of enormous power that shakes us and enables us to get in touch with the miracle of each moment. Schnabel says that his purpose in making the film was to tell "the story of all of us, who surely do face death and sickness. But if we look", he says, "we can find meaning and beauty here." There is enough of both meaning and beauty to make The Diving Bell and the Butterfly one of the best films of the year.

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    Storyline

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    Did you know

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    • Trivia
      To familiarize himself with Bauby's sheltered existence, director Julian Schnabel made the movie in the same hospital where Bauby was treated, meeting many of the orderlies who had treated him. He also shot scenes on the same balcony where Bauby relaxed, and on the same nearby beach to which his family had taken him.
    • Goofs
      When Jean-Dominique goes on a boat ride, a 'Speedferries' vessel can be seen in the background. Speedferries started business in 2004, years after the movie was set.
    • Quotes

      Jean-Dominique Bauby: I decided to stop pitying myself. Other than my eye, two things aren't paralyzed, my imagination and my memory.

    • Connections
      Featured in Siskel & Ebert: Juno/Starting Out in the Evening/The Savages/Hitman/The Diving Bell and the Butterfly/Redacted (2007)
    • Soundtracks
      Theme for The Diving-Bell and the Butterfly
      Composed by Paul Cantelon

      Studio recording The University of Victoria

      Engineer / Producer Russell Dawkin

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    FAQ25

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    • Is 'The Diving Bell and the Butterfly' based on a book?
    • How closely does the film follow the book?
    • What caused Bauby's stroke?

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • February 1, 2008 (United States)
    • Countries of origin
      • France
      • United States
    • Official site
      • Official site
    • Language
      • French
    • Also known as
      • El llanto de la mariposa
    • Filming locations
      • Berck, Pas-de-Calais, France
    • Production companies
      • Pathé
      • Renn Productions
      • France 3 Cinéma
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $6,003,227
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $75,721
      • Dec 2, 2007
    • Gross worldwide
      • $19,780,116
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 52 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • DTS
      • Dolby Digital
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

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