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The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007)
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Reviews Counted: 148
Fresh: 138
Rotten:10
Average Rating: 8.2/10
Consensus: It is staggering that this biopic about a paralyzed writer would contain such breathtaking visuals and dynamic performances. Director Julian Schnabel found illuminating ways of portraying the protagonist's "locked-in syndrome," exploring with poetic visuals the personal triumphs of this man limited by his hospital bed.
Rated: PG-13 [See Full Rating] for nudity, sexual content and some language.
Runtime: 1 hr 52 mins
Genre: Foreign Films
Theatrical Release:Nov 30, 2007 Limited
Box Office: $5,875,116
Synopsis: Celebrated painter and filmmaker Julian Schnabel's third feature finds him reaching new artistic heights with this audacious and personal biopic, based on the best-selling memoir of the same name.... Celebrated painter and filmmaker Julian Schnabel's third feature finds him reaching new artistic heights with this audacious and personal biopic, based on the best-selling memoir of the same name. The film tells the remarkable tale of Jean-Dominique Bauby (Mathieu Amalric), the world-renowned editor of French ELLE magazine, who suffered a stroke and was paralyzed by the inexplicable "locked in" syndrome at the age of 43. Bauby's only way of communicating with the outside world was by blinking with one eye, and after several dedicated helpers--a string of impossibly beautiful women (Emmanuelle Seigner, Marie-Josee Croze, Olatz Lopez Garamendia, Anne Consigny)--helped him to speak through this seemingly irrelevant gesture, he began to produce the words that would form his memoir. Along the way, as he swam in and out of consciousness, memories from his past swelled into the present, resulting in a cinematic experience that is at once heartbreaking and hopeful. Schnabel somehow manages to convey Bauby's internal life with remarkable clarity, employing first-person perspective, striking cinematography (by the always great Janusz Kaminski), and Amalric's pained, life-affirming monologues. The result is a wholly original experience, a painful and tender portrait of a life that is made all the more exhilarating because of its close proximity to death. [More]
Starring: Mathieu Amalric, Emmanuelle Seigner, Marie-Josee Croze, Anne Consigny
Starring: Mathieu Amalric, Emmanuelle Seigner, Marie-Josee Croze, Anne Consigny, Patrick Chesnais, Niels Arestrup, Olatz Lapez Garmendia, Max Von Sydow
Director: Julian Schnabel
Director: Julian Schnabel
Screenwriter: Ronald Harwood
Producer: Kathleen Kennedy, Jon Kilik
Composer: Paul Cantelon
Studio: Miramax Films
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Reviews for The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Una película realmente conmovedora que logra trasladar a hermosas y sugestivas imágenes la experiencia real de un hombre paralizado física aunque no mentalmente.
The camera techniques used actually give the audience just a hint of what it must be like to live with a fully aware mind, and one working eye.
Delves into the horrific destiny and triumphant creative, if not physical struggle of this French celebrity, whose stroke left him completely paralyzed save for interior silent monologues, and the furiously blinking eye of this ill-fated ravaged cyclops.
Thanks to wonderful direction, editing, and cinematography, Schnabel convinces us of this perspective with a stroke of brilliance...
Screenwriter Ronald Harwood turns this first person novel into an intensely first person movie. There are times when it seems impossible that a camera could even be present, the surroundings are so perfectly interior to a man. Amazing.
Latest News for The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
April 28, 2008:
RT on DVD: The Golden Compass, 27 Dresses, and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
If you, like many others, opted out of The Golden Compass while it was in theaters, never fear; your chance to watch it at home has arrived. Then again, instead of picking up... More...
February 23, 2008:
Juno Leads Independent Spirit Winners...And Gains Momentum For Oscar Gold
The little teen pregnancy movie that could made a last-minute surge towards tomorrow's Oscars as Juno won three of its four Independent Spirit Award categories during Saturday's... More...
February 08, 2008:
Director Julian Schnabel on The Diving Bell and the Butterfly: The RT Interview
We talk to the helmer of one of this year's Cannes triumphs. More...
January 28, 2008:
There Will Be Blood, No Country for Old Men Top ASC, DGA Awards
Perhaps the ASC and DGA Awards aren't the flashiest ceremonies of the season, but being honored by one's peers is always a cause for celebration, so let's take a moment to... More...
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