Julian Schnabel’s film adaptation of Jean-Dominique Bauby’s 1997 memoir, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly was released by Miramax in 2007 and immediately won: the best director prize at Cannes (Schnabel); a best adapted screenplay BAFTA (Ronald Harwood); an Independent Spirit Award for best cinematography (Janusz Kaminski) and best director; and was nominated for Oscars in writing, editing (Juliette Welfling), cinematography and directing.
Bauby’s memoir, adapted for the screen by Ronald Harwood describes his life before and after his debilitating stroke. Bauby was severely impaired and was diagnosed with “locked-in syndrome” leaving him unable to move at all with the exception of his left eyelid.
The film opens in a hospital room, as Bauby awakes to see nurses and doctors surrounding him. The scene is shot from Bauby’s Point of view; his eye slowly opens to reveal his surroundings, blurry at first, his eyelid opening and closing several times before those in the room come into focus. Immediately the filmmakers create a sense of being trapped, being helpless and unable to move. As viewers, we empathize with Bauby. Our gaze is his point of view. We are trapped visually, much like Bauby trapped within his own body.
The feelings of helplessness are exacerbated by feelings of invasion and violation as doctors manipulate Bauby’s eyelid, shine lights into his eye and ask him questions to which he cannot answer as he cannot communicate verbally. Throughout this scene, the viewer can hear Bauby’s thoughts, he does not understand why Doctor Cocheton is not listening to him. After the initial examination, Doctor Cocheton explains to Bauby that he has been in a coma for 3 weeks, and was brought to the Naval hospital in Normand...
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...to commnicate, to recover. And just as frequently Bauby succumbs to sadness and despair, realizing he will never walk or speak again; the life he once knew and loved is gone forever.
These juxtsposed emotions are represented by Bauby’s description of feeling like he is in a diving bell, slowly sinking to the bottom of the ocean, while other times he feels his mind is as light as a butterfly, able to retrieve his memories and recollections of his former life. Scenes of both are dispersed throughout the film and add to tone and narrative. Bauby’s memoir was eventually published by Knopf; The Diving Bell and the Butterfly: A Memoir of Life in Death was released in 1997, two years after Bauby’s stroke and quickly became a best-seller in France.
Works Cited
Harwood, Ronald, writ. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. Dir. Julian Schnabel. Miramax, 2007.
... seeing and feeling it’s renewed sense of spring due to all the work she has done, she was not renewed, there she lies died and reader’s find the child basking in her last act of domestication. “Look, Mommy is sleeping, said the boy. She’s tired from doing all out things again. He dawdled in a stream of the last sun for that day and watched his father roll tenderly back her eyelids, lay his ear softly to her breast, test the delicate bones of her wrist. The father put down his face into her fresh-washed hair” (Meyer 43). They both choose death for the life style that they could no longer endure. They both could not look forward to another day leading the life they did not desire and felt that they could not change. The duration of their lifestyles was so pain-staking long and routine they could only seek the option death for their ultimate change of lifestyle.
...e to cope with the ominous recurring flashbacks and the heart-aching memories he suffered from every day. He may have been able to be saved if he only had an outlet to express his feelings. To that end, the significance of connection and communication between one another cannot be further stressed and hopefully this story was encouragement enough to reach out to fellow loved ones and even acquaintances in an effort to gain better relationships and advance as a society.
It has been said that one small moment can create large effects; the butterfly effect. For Betty Williams, her small moment occurred on August 10th, 1976 when she witnessed an innocent family get mauled by a runaway car driven by an IRA member in her hometown Belfast, Ireland. Three children were killed and their mother, Anne Maguire, was seriously injured and later committed suicide. Williams was greatly moved by this tragic event. Two days after witnessing the accident, she obtained six thousand signatures on a petition for peace. Later, Williams teamed up with Anne Maguire’s sister to form The Women For Peace, now known as the The Community For Peace. The organization was known for holding mass protests. William’s spearheaded a peaceful march of ten thousand Protestant and Catholic women. The march was diffused by the Irish Army, but it did not stop the movement. The next march was attended by 3,500 people, proving that nonviolent protesting was effective. The loss of three children eventually led one woman to
The Butterfly Diving Bell sits on my bedside table . It was a busy day when I finished and I'm struggling with how to express my appreciation for the best of the author , Jean - Dominique Bauby . As a beautiful French dessert , each crafted wonderful phrases should be savored. Posted by Bauby bears a sense of humor combined with depression that required for reading and slow digestion . He must have been a Morrissey fan .
Reichardt, Kelly (Director), Raymond, John and Reichardt, Kelly (Writers), Williams, Michelle and Robinson, John (Performances). 2008. Oscilloscope Pictures, 2009. DVD
The novelette, “Flowers for Algernon,” written by Daniel Keyes and the film Charly, written by Jeff Bleckner, both tell the story of a man named Charlie Gordon, who struggles with a mental disability. This young man experiences an experimental procedure intended to increase his knowledge in order for him to be able to read and write like others. He later discovers the procedure’s effects are only temporary, and he returns to his original state of disability. Although “Flowers for Algernon” and Charly are similar in conflict, they greatly differ in their characters and setting.
The Kite Runner. New York: Riverhead, 2003.
and the life he knew was now gone . All he could do now was cry , the only way he knew
...— for repose and restoration, for the knowledge that life comes from between our legs, and that life costs blood. (Diamant 158)
In a beautifully descriptive poem titled “Diving into the Wreck”, author Adrienne Rich seems to be depicting a quest the narrator is on, to delve deep into the sea and explore a wreckage beneath the waves. The poem focuses more so on the preparation and process of the dive rather than of the search of the wreckage itself, which plays an interesting factor in the poem. But, as the narrator dives into the water, the reader is taken into a deeper journey along with them. Diving under the surface of the poem, and looking further into the meaning, there is a central theme of women who have been oppressed for hundreds of years struggling for their rights in a society that is mainly dominated by males. The poem is much more than just an adventurous
Thurber’s stories and self-drawn cartoons appeared for over thirty years in the New Yorker magazine. James Thurber had been blinded in one eye in a childhood accident, and then he lost vision in his other eye in later life. Despite those hardships, the author still continued his storytelling pursuits and even appeared late in life as himself in a popular Broadway play The Thurber Carnival.
because it reiterates that the author's main purpose is to instill the notion that one should not struggle against mortal defeat because it will eventually come upon everyone, including those that have attained fulfillment from life.
...the predominant theme of disorientation and lack of understanding throughout the film. The audience is never clear of if the scene happening is authentic or if there is a false reality.
The film The Boogey Man, is a Horror film, directed by Stephen Kay, that is a take on the classic ‘Boogie Man’ or monster in the closet who is the main antagonist of the film. It is the second film of an apparent trilogy. One particularly important scene is the scene at the beginning with the main character, Tim Jensen, at a young age going through a series of mysterious occurrences in his room at night to then witness his dad being taken by the Boogie man. Stephen uses the five aspects Lighting, Dialogue, Character’s actions, Camerawork and Soundtrack to emphasize the overall dark mood that is tempted to make.
Baz Luhrmann has done this film in a unique and brilliant way, with help of the above, and of course a great loved story as a base.