by Christine Zibas

Created on: July 28, 2008

One of the most compelling movies ever made, "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" takes a unique approach to storytelling. From the beginning of the movie, we are put into the mindset of the main character, seeing through his eyes. As the movie opens, the world is a blurry and confusing place. Images seem to drift in and out. Finally a physician appears. And the world becomes a bit more clear. The main character (and the audience) is suffering from the effects of a stroke, which has complete paralyzed the main character.

This is the world of French journalist Jean-Dominique Bauby ("Jean-Do," to friends), played by French actor Mattieu Amalric. As editor of the French magazine, "Elle," Jean-Do is at the height of his career in the fashion world. He attends fashion shoots, he lives the high life of parties and making the French scene, he has children (with a woman he never married) and a mistress. He is close to his aging father. He has all the fame, fortune, and love in the world, and yet his life is not satisfying. Then it all comes crashing down in a single moment. At 43, he is struck down by a stroke, and transferred to a hospital in the northern French Maritimes, in a tiny fishing village he used to visit as a boy on vacation so many years ago.

That hospital becomes his entire world for the rest of his life. Jean-Do quickly learns that, with his nearly complete paralysis, he is immobile except for the movement of one eye. But that one eye brings him to a new world. With his mind and that single eye, he is able to communicate to the world in ways unimaginable. As a result of the stroke, he must rethink how he lives and what he lives for. He must have the courage to continue to live when he would prefer to die. In the end, the viewers come to learn all of that through a book that Jean-Do writes before his death.

Through Jean-Do's eye, movie-goers are able to experience what he sees, his relationships with the hospital staff, and those from the outside world. He comes to learn just who loves and cares for him, and who cannot face his crippling condition. Those revelations can be as heartbreaking as his own suffering. He is able to reach down into the core of who he is and know who truly loves and cares for him, a situation not many people experience before the end of their lives.

Directed by American artist Julian Schnabel, this is a beautiful portrait of human courage in the face of insurmountable odds. As an artist, Schnabel's approach to film making is colored by his vision of the world. Choosing to make the film in French and filming at the real hospital where the story occurs were elements Schnabel felt essential to the spirit of the film.

Similarly his intimate involvement with character expression in the movie is exceptional. His characters (not only that of Jean-Do) are unlike any movie goers have ever seen before. They have depth and resonance; they echo ourselves back to us. Most important of all, Schnabel is able to let viewers see and feel what it's like to be Jean-Do, the victim of a crippling medical condition. Through that shared insight, we come to understand that it is our own mind, our memories, and the love we share with others that make a life worth living.

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