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Le Scaphandre et le Papillon (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly) (2007)

tomatometer

93

Average Rating: 8.2/10
Reviews Counted: 164
Fresh: 153 | Rotten: 11

Breathtaking visuals and dynamic performances make The Diving Bell and the Butterfly a powerful biopic.

95

Average Rating: 8.2/10
Critic Reviews: 42
Fresh: 40 | Rotten: 2

Breathtaking visuals and dynamic performances make The Diving Bell and the Butterfly a powerful biopic.

audience

91

liked it
Average Rating: 4/5
User Ratings: 145,358

My Rating

Movie Info

The astonishing true-life story of Jean-Dominic Bauby -- a man who held the world in his palm, lost everything to sudden paralysis at 43 years old, and somehow found the strength to rebound -- first touched the world in Bauby's best-selling autobiography The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (aka La Scaphandre et la Papillon), then in Jean-Jacques Beineix's half-hour 1997 documentary of Bauby at work, released under the same title, and, ten years after that, in this Cannes-selected docudrama, helmed

PG-13, 1 hr. 54 min.

Drama

Ronald Harwood

Apr 29, 2008

$5.9M

Miramax Films

Cast

All Critics (164) | Top Critics (42) | Fresh (161) | Rotten (11) | DVD (19)

What's fascinating is that it is the very restrictions the story imposes on a director that allow Schnabel to turn it into such an eerie stunner of a movie.

October 18, 2008 Full Review Source: NPR.org | Comment
NPR.org
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is one of the best movies of 2007, but I'd argue it's also the one most in tune with what this season of goodwill and tolerance is supposed to be all about.

October 18, 2008 Full Review Source: Toronto Star | Comment
Toronto Star
Top Critic IconTop Critic

It's a subject and a film that perfectly blends the tragic with the triumphant.

January 10, 2008 Full Review Source: Orlando Sentinel | Comment
Orlando Sentinel
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Profoundly moving.

January 4, 2008 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | Comment
Chicago Reader
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Director Julian Schnabel uses his skill as a painter to assemble a collage of fantastical images to reveal the exquisite physical wreck that Bauby has become.

January 4, 2008 Full Review Source: San Jose Mercury News | Comment
San Jose Mercury News
Top Critic IconTop Critic

[Director Julian] Schnabel isn't going anywhere astounding in this film; it is, after all, about a man who can't move. But he is exploring the vast potential of both imagination and spirit.

December 26, 2007 Full Review Source: Detroit News | Comment
Detroit News
Top Critic IconTop Critic

An inventive, challenging, at times emotionally bracing film, audaciously staged and laudably anti-clichéd in its character particulars, yet destined to be more admired than beloved.

April 28, 2011 Full Review Source: East Bay Express | Comment
East Bay Express

Julian Schnabel and cinematographer Janusz Kaminski fundamentally retool the template for the biopic to create one of the greatest portrayals of the mind's eye ever put to film. A discomforting but inspiring struggle for one enduring, final expression.

September 25, 2010 Full Review Source: Suite101.com | Comment
Suite101.com

This uncommon story about an uncommon man is gentle, it is patient, it is compassionate and -- from a technical standpoint -- it is stunning.

October 9, 2009 Full Review Source: Times-Picayune | Comments (2)
Times-Picayune

Triumph of the human spirit to the Miramax, predictable in its crowd-pleasing, middlebrow vulgarity but with a few inventive, free-floating passages

August 27, 2009 Full Review Source: CinePassion | Comment
CinePassion

[Schnabel is] drawn to the plight of the imagination struggling against limits, and Bauby's Beckett-like extremity has inspired his best film to date and the best film of the year.

April 23, 2009 Full Review Source: Boston Phoenix | Comment
Boston Phoenix

Una película realmente conmovedora que logra trasladar a hermosas y sugestivas imágenes la experiencia real de un hombre paralizado física aunque no mentalmente.

November 8, 2008 Full Review Source: Uruguay Total | Comment
Uruguay Total

Movies are a lot more than a bunch of pictures, no matter how ravishing, and the strong cast is key here, especially the three women who dominate Bauby's life.

October 18, 2008 Full Review Source: Bullz-Eye.com | Comment
Bullz-Eye.com

Of all the movies generating award buzz this season, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly was the most surprising to me and perhaps the most special.

October 18, 2008 Full Review Source: Three Movie Buffs | Comment
Three Movie Buffs

The film is certainly rich in imagery, and its immersion into the subjective is a daringly successful conceit, but it never quite pulls all the pieces together.

October 18, 2008 Full Review Source: Q Network Film Desk | Comment
Q Network Film Desk

Nothing in director Julian Schnabel's career so far has anticipated the sweetness, sadness, maturity and restraint of this lovely movie.

October 18, 2008 Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | Comment
Guardian [UK]

How does an actor act when he can use only one eye? You'll have to see the film to find out, but rest assured that there are sufficient flashbacks to give the remarkable Mathieu Amalric a chance to use the usual actor's tools as well.

October 18, 2008 Full Review Source: San Diego Metropolitan | Comment
San Diego Metropolitan

An emotional tour de force that is simply stunning all around.

September 8, 2008 Full Review Source: ReelzChannel.com | Comment

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.

September 4, 2008 Full Review Source: The Scorecard Review | Comment
The Scorecard Review

Diving Bell is modishly slick, visually inventive and vaguely immaterial but ultimately moving because, well, how could it not be?

August 7, 2008 Full Review Source: Sacramento News & Review | Comment
Sacramento News & Review

Subtitled drama takes paralyzed man's perspective.

July 16, 2008 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media | Comment
Common Sense Media
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Le Scaphandre et le Papillon (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly)

Through brilliant use of the medium, we are given an acutely visceral impression of being inside the useless body of Jean-Dominic Bauby, all of us sharing in his extraordinary and limited experience, and learning of his poetry, imagination, and passion for all of life. We are also begged the question of how much we

December 2, 2011
Matthew Slaven

Super Reviewer

Cinematography in this film was beautiful and different. The story was rich and deep. Its truly a masterpiece!

October 25, 2011
paul o.
paul oh

Super Reviewer

    1. Jean-Dominique 'Jean Do' Bauby: We're all children, we all need approval.
    – Submitted by Chad E (6 months ago)
    1. Jean-Dominique 'Jean Do' Bauby: A poet once said, "Only a fool laughs when nothing's funny"
    – Submitted by Chris P (9 months ago)
    1. Jean-Dominique 'Jean Do' Bauby: We're all children, we all need approval.
    – Submitted by Chris P (9 months ago)

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Foreign Titles

  • Schmetterling und Taucherglocke (DE)
  • The Diving Bell And The Butterfly (UK)
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