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Reviews Counted:151
Fresh:140
Rotten:11
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.
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.... [More]
Starring: Mathieu Amalric, Emmanuelle Seigner, Marie-Josee Croze, Anne Consigny
Director: Julian Schnabel
There is something cinematic about Bauby's situation. Like the moviegoer stuck in a seat in the dark, he can only observe the action in front of him. His comments are unheard by the people who move before his eyes and attempt to manipulate his emotions.
While introducing artistic elements that border on fanciful, the filmmakers also insist on realism, resulting in a film that is always relatable, never sappy.
We never sympathize with Bauby, because, for much of the film, we are him.
...a film about a stranded man that bustles with vigorous energy, an exploration of the oceans inside human consciousness.
Optimistically, Schnabel would like to fill such an ordeal with color, music and hot nurses. Wedding himself to Bauby’s real trauma, though, seems beyond him.
The movie's small powerful moments are worth more than the entirety of your average noble-sufferer weepie.
With breathtaking sentiment, the film masterfully shows how Bauby was able to write the perfect final chapter of his life.
Feeling reduced now to a "zombie," denied what he most wants, sensual pleasures and connections, Bauby is angry and grateful at once. That gap is the movie's most affecting dilemma, unresolved by its many aesthetic effects.
An exquisite metaphor for the redemptive power of cinema. Without an ounce of cheap sentiment, this true story is as profoundly moving and dreamily beautiful as any film in recent memory.
Paralyzing to watch. At times, you're just as frustrated as Bauby; you want him to communicate, you want other people to understand what he is thinking, and above all, you want him to pull through it.
Unlike last year's acclaimed film, 'The Sea Inside,' this film does not follow the path to suicide, but rather to a triumph of sorts.
It's an unthinkable fate, but Schnabel's film manages both to give us a palpable sense of it and to lead us to appreciate the humanity of it. In that sense, it's a tale of triumph.
The results are emotionally charged but not manipulative.
You don't want to blink: You won't want to miss a second of it.
Bauby, Harwood and Schnabel are probably the only people who'll be our guides on a journey like this, and better ones could not be found.
In his brilliant new film, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, painter/sculptor/director Schnabel (Basquiat, Before Night Falls) defies dozens of moviemaking conventions to tell the true story of Jean-Dominique Bauby.
It is amazing that a story as sad as this one inherently is could be so uplifting, but that's exactly what it is.
It's a subject and a film that perfectly blends the tragic with the triumphant.
The magnificence of Bauby's accomplishment as an author is reflected, shimmering strangely, by a film that awakens a trapped life with the kind of poetry only the camera can write.
Steadfastly avoids reducing the notions of perseverance and heroism to convenient catchphrases.
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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