Despite that The Diving Bell and the Butterfly was emotionally difficult to watch, I’m definitely glad I did. What impressed me most about this film was that Julian Schnabel seemingly let the story speak itself and used the cinematography to convey the emotion of the plot. Considering this is a true story, I glad that Schnabel recognized that the narrative did need emotional embellishment. I loved that Schnabel filmed the movie in such a way that the audience is forced to see the world from Jean Do’s obstructed point of view. As I result, I didn’t just feel sad for this man, I truly understood his frustration, pain, and dispair.
I was impressed that Schnabel not only achieved this through the extreme close up shots of Jean Do’s limited vision when communicating with others, but also the wide shots of the outdoors which, captured his inability move around on the beach, terrace, etc. If the cinematography was not enough to capture the Jean Do’s feelings, the illustration of the deep-sea diving suit was pretty ingenious.
However, my favorite aspect of the film was the flashbacks of Jean-Do’s life before the cardiovascular accident. I found the scene in the convertible and scene of Jean Do walking down the street at night particularly beautiful. The music that accompanied these scenes was always loud and fun and the scenes all have an exhilarating quality even when what was going on was fairly mundane. Obviously Jean Do’s life as editor of Elle magazine might not seem mundane to everyone. Yet, I felt the scenes were meant to demonstrate fun, happy moments (and even sad ones) in life that we don’t fully realize their significance until they are distant memories. The movement and life of his flashbacks when contrasted with the hospital scenes were very powerful.
Again, this movie was difficult to watch especially since I did not really know anything about the movie going into it other than the fact that it was a sad story. Admittedly I got choked up a few times and barely made it through the scene where his father calls on the phone. Nevertheless, it was worth the watch.
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I definitely got choked up when his father called too...and the scene when his lover called and Celine had to sit there and listen/translate Jean Do's words to her. Like, there's Celine standing by the father of her children who is not only a vegetable but abandoned her, and she STILL loves him. And then his girlfriend who couldn't even come to visit him is still the one he loves.
I also loved the flashback scenes - especially the very first one where it showed the 'Elle' photoshoot. The music and style and quick camera really was so fun and made me feel like I was there...
The first time I went to see this movie I pretty much cried through the entire thing. I especially became emotional during the father calling scene. I think it was so effective because when you are first introduced to the father, he isn't able to express himself as much as it seems he'd really want to...he blames it on his memory loss or he's just being a 'tough' guy. Jean-Do obviously seems to accept his father's difficulty in expressing how he feels about his son as well. So much that when the father says how proud he is of Jean-Do, Jean-Do actually pushes the comment aside. However, it seems to be so much more difficult for Jean-Do when his father calls on the phone...that emotional attachment the two have to each other is quite evident in how emotional they both get. I guess we sometimes take the fact that we can easily communicate with others (especially with those we love) for granted sometimes...and until that means of communication is taken away, we might not express our love for another quite to the extent we may feel in our hearts.
This movie was such a downer, like watching Schindler's List...very effective for ending a drawn out depressive episode, one way or the other. There was a lady at my church whose husband got a form of mad cow disease, they don't know how he got it, but it slowly destroyed his ability to communicate with other humans. At the end of his life he was completly conscious of everything going on around him and WANTED to be able to communicate, but was unable to because of the degeneration of his brain due to the disease...he sure didn't make it look like fun. He didn't get to blink out a memoir though.
This movie is, in a lot of ways much like Gone With the Wind...people tend to focus too much on the drama and not at all on the message. In Gone With the Wind, the drama is about Scarlett's love triangle, but the message is about knowing thyself and building your hope on the things that comprise you (i.e.: Tara); in this Butterfly movie the drama is all about how much it sucks being a fashion editor, when the message is about overcoming a severe handicap.
Cinematographically speaking, Gone With the Wind was definatly superior, and with regard to fashion editing, I have to say that Gone With the Wind takes the cake. You cant beat the antibellum dresses and the sharp Confederate blue uniforms.
I think the mood expressed by the Butterfly film leaves much to be desired in the way of happiness. At the end you feel relieved knowing that this poor trapped man died 10 days after the publication of his memoirs. It was the only thing that was keeping him from willing himself to death like a shipwrecked lonely sailor.
Much like this Butterfly film, I once had a pet rat, her name was Bubonia, we were buddies. She used to steal my toothbrushes and hide them in her stash under my bed. Once she nibbled through a tube of lotion with sparkles in it and had diarhea for a day. I used to gel her hair up cause I thought it was cool having a rat with spiked hair. She would get these tumors in her abdomen and would bite a hole through her skin then pull the tumor out and bit it off, then let her skin close up and heal...that went on about 4-5 times over 3 years. Then she got several tumors that just got larger and larger and she stopped moving around her cage because the tumors had taken over her blood supply and were too large to allow her body to get any nutrition or to walk around easily. She just laid there and laid there for a day or too. She mercifully died after a couple days of that...That is how I feel about this movie. Its like watching a pet die slowly. You just want the suffering to stop that you're ok with them not living any more and you would rather miss the pet than let the pet die.
I cannot even properly make fun of this movie cause its subject matter is so tragic. I could have an easier time making fun of Anne Frank.
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