I don’t think I’ve ever seen a biopic quite like Julian Schnabel’s masterwork, The Diving Bell and the Buttefly. To take the already extraordinary autobiography of man living, or barely living, under extraordinary circumstances and transform it into a movie so personal and arresting and powerful has got to have been a monumental task. And yet, after seeing his second feature, Before Night Falls, I strongly believe that Schnabel is to cinema what Arthur Miller is to theatre or Gabriel Faure is to music, an artist so clear in his conviction, so passionate in his execution and of such unique vision, that his work may immediately become a benchmark of great art. Great but accessible art. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is Schnabel’s great and accessible artful vision of the memoir of the same name.
In, 1997, Jean-Dominique Bauby, the ambitious editor of Elle Magazine, suffers a stroke that leaves him almost completely paralyzed. Suffering from “locked-in syndrome” Bauby can only blink his left eye. With the help of a fully dedicated staff of physical and psychological therapists, Bauby embarks on a harrowing and inspiring journey as he struggles to cope with his vegetative state. With Dr. Henriette Durand acting as his voice and hands, he then creates a biography of his experience and publishes a book that would be translated into dozens of languages. In a painstakingly slow and arduous process, Bauby composed the entire memoir in his head and translated it to Durand one letter at a time, blinking for each desired letter in an alphabet especially created for such kinds of communication.
On a personal, humanistic level, Schnabel’s film pays homage to the power of fantasy, imagination and the desire to survive in order to be with those you love. On a technical plane, Schnabel’s film is jarring, disorienting, fragmented, clearly in efforts to perhaps give the viewer an opportunity of what Bauby’s experience, upon waking from his coma, might have been. And yet the film, with its angle and perspective changes, flashbacks and touches of fantasy, never loses its audience and never skips a beat. And even the most mundane frames, such as Bauby’s wife standing in the distance smoking a cigarette while he watches motionless from his wheelchair, never feel unnecessary or overdone. In the end, every image goes back to the story of a man who becomes a prisoner in his own body, only to find absolute freedom in his imagination.
Schnabel seems to be drawn to stories of artists who overcome mitigating circumstances, Basquiat and Before Night Falls are proof of his undeniable talents as a director. Interestingly enough, I’m beginning to regard him in the same realm of artist Jean-Michel Basquiat and poet/novelist Reynaldo Arenas. With The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, only his third film,he is changing the landscape of American filmmaking. I only wonder what awesomeness he’s going to share with us in his next film.
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
(France/USA, 2007)
Directed by Julian Schnabel
With Matheiu Amalric
http://www.lescaphandre-lefilm.com/
I wouldn’t want your junk, Michael. I’d just want Georgia.
December 28, 2007 at 3:08 pmI have no doubt Diving Bell is probably an amazing film but PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don’t heap anymore praise onto the shoulders of Mr. Schnabel. I met the dude once when Before Night Falls came out and he couldn’t possibly have displayed anymore of the typical cliches associated with “serious artistes” than he did. The guy may be talented but he’s also quite pompous. I got the same impression from a friend of mine who works at a local theater that premiered this film not too long ago.
Again, that should have no bearing on the assessment of the film itself, just don’t go tooting this guy’s horn too much. He’s perfectly capable doing it himself.
December 29, 2007 at 12:30 pmOK, I won’t toot. I promise not to toot.
December 30, 2007 at 6:27 pm
Do you know how I’d deal with a near-vegetative state? I’d bequeath all my motorcycles and antique typewriters to whomever would inject me with a lethal dose of morphine. Or heroin. Or bleach. Just make sure it’s lethal.
December 28, 2007 at 2:47 pm