Le Scaphandre et le papillon ( The Butterfly and the Diving Bell)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0401383/

MUST SEE !!!!
Very sad but very uplifting at the same time.
Very moving !!

Emmanuelle is an angel !
:cheers2:

 

Wow, I just saw this movie the other day. It left me speechless. It amazes me how France seems to consistently produce such original cinema.

The incredible(true) story aside, the direction was brilliant and the acting was top-notch(I especially loved the father).

There is something for everybody in this movie, but I, as a writer, found resonance in the fact that one needs to be alone(even if only in your mind) to write.

Wonderful.

 

It started out rather slowly, when he was first admitted to the hospital and I almost shut it off. I decided to give it a few more minutes and I'm glad I did.
It's a very powerful and moving film about the strength of spirit and reaching your goals even if it seems impossible.

 

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is the story of a stroke victim reduced to paraplegia. His heart and lungs work on, and he can see and hear, but not speak or otherwise move, except to blink his eyes. A surgeon sews his right eye shut because of a fear of infection. This leaves one good eye that he can blink.

Two blinks signify a no, one blink a yes. His speech therapist writes down an alphabet, sequenced with the most frequently used letters (in French) first, the least frequent letters last. She recites this alphabet to him until he hears the letter he wishes to communicate, and then she writes that letter down. In this way he holds daily conversations, first with his speech therapist and then with his family members.

Prior to the stroke, Jean-Dominique Bauby had been a magazine executive and something of a ladies man, with a wife, three children and a mistress. Following the stroke he is in a "diving bell" of an unresponsive but still living body. Using the blinking technique, he writes a book about his life. All this is based on a true story. The author died ten days after completing his book.

The screenplay is stunning and brings the viewer right into Jean-Dominique's point of view from the beginning. For example, the viewer watches from behind Bauby's eyelid while a surgeon sews the eyelid shut, and Bauby rages against him, unable to move or talk.

Winner, Best Director, Golden Globe Awards, 2008. Four Oscar nominations and winner of many other awards (see www.imdb.com).

Recommended.