The Diving Bell And The Butterfly

Olwyn and I attended our first selected film from the World Cinema Showcase. Tonight we saw The Diving Bell And The Butterfly which is a translation of the French memoir Le scaphandre et le papillon by French journalist Jean-Dominique Bauby.

Jean-Do was the editor of French Elle magazine and in 1995 the 43 year old suffered from a stroke which had him in a coma for twenty days, before waking up with locked-in syndrome. The only part of his body that wasn't paralyzed was his left eye-lid. Jean-Do lived emotionally through his imagination and memories.

What makes Jean-Dominique Bauby an incredible journalist is that he authored the book, The Diving Bell And The Butterfly by talking and communicating with his left eye-lid. Jean-Do would compose the book in his head and then someone would recit the alphabet over and over again until words were built to contruct sentences, to fill pages for his book . One blink mean't yes, two blinks mean't no.

You would imagine that the book would take forever to complete, however it was published in France in 1997 and recieved excellent reviews. Pneumonia took Jean-Do's life after ten days the book was released.

The Diving Bell And The Butterfly held up such beautiful scenes with the colours being so gentle and vintage, but vivid you couldn't help but to feel if you were in a lucid dream. The camera angles were interesting in a good sense and gave you a solid perspective of what it were to be like if you were Jean-Do.

This film helped me realise how lucky I am to not have to live the way Jean-Do did in his final years, however I don't know if it was so powerful that it could make me continuely go on appreciating life, even if it did have me captured for 112 mintues and then some.

If you do have the chance to see the film, do see it, I can't imagine it being something you won't enjoy.

Wellington - Paramovnt
Monday 24 March, 1330

Auckland - Academy Cinemas
Thursday 27 March, 2015
Sunday 30 March, 1815

Sunday 6 April, 1815

Christchurch - Rialto Cinemas

Thursday 17 April, 2015

Sunday 20 April, 1800

Dunedin - Regent Theatre
Thursday 24 April, 1900
Sunday 27 April, 1600

Fimilar faces: Emmanuelle Seigner from Four Last Songs.