Have you ever considered whether you would want to live or die if your faculties were taken from you? I know I have. But which faculties? What if it was your body and you still had your brain and could speak? What if you had your mind but couldn’t communicate?
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (nominated for 4 Academy awards) is an amazing film about the triumph of human spirit made by Julian Schnabel that challenges us to grapple with the main characters affliction, yet entertains us at the same time.
This is not a depressing movie. I need to stress that because quite surprisingly, it is uplifting. I will admit that when I read the description on my Netflix envelope, I put it aside and it took me nearly a month to get too. Shame on me! This movie touched me like few recent films have and forced me to reflect on my own viewpoints and beliefs.
It tells the story of Elle magazine editor Jean-Dominique Bauby (better known as Jean Do). At the height of fashion and life at the age of 42, he suffers a massive stroke that paralyzes him from head to toe. He wakes up in the hospital and, through his eyes and ours, the movie begins. I am not going to give away too much but this is more than a film of a hospital room window.
It shows how Jean Do is able to communicate through one eye (the other one doesn’t work) by blinking with the outside world. Actually, he does much more than that as he writes an autobiography of his life and experience through a dedicated assistant who you would have to say falls in love with Jean Do, as many fall to the charms of this man.
This is not a story where we are supposed to pity the man in the wheelchair. At 42, he was a person with real problems like all of us. He has 3 children, a wife, mistress and a disabled father. All of these issues are touched on, some more than others. While this all contributes to the story, none of that really matters as it seems that Jean Do was one of those rare people who are admired and loved by many despite their imperfections.
Through Jean Do’s eyes, and more appropriately his memory and imagination (which he so touchingly says are the only parts of him other than his one eye that are not paralyzed), we see his life. We see him eating foods he no longer can, traveling to wonderful spots throughout the world (although the scenery from the hospital balcony he loves so much is spectacular) and enjoying time with friends and family. It is touching to see his friends and family speak to and sing and dance in front of him. Anyone who thinks someone confined to a chair and unable to communicate doesn’t appreciate visitors needs to really reconsider their position. Needless to say, he gets over pitying himself quickly and appreciates their efforts and even their jokes at his expense.
This movie is touching. Of course it is! How could it not be? It is more than that though. It is beautiful in so many ways from images of debonair and attractive Jean Do to the wonderful scenery from the hospital balcony to the gorgeous therapists who help to rehabilitate him.
This movie made me think, made me feel and made me cry. It made me reconsider some of my beliefs about my own existence. Also, it made me realize how selfish I am and how much more I have to learn about life. Life is more than what we see in front of us when we look at our hands. We all have to cherish every part of it.
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