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Cast

Mathieu Amalric
as Jean-Dominique Bauby

Emmanuelle Seigner
as Celine Desmoulins

Anne Consigny
as Claude

Max von Sydow
as Papinou

Marie-Josée Croze
as Henriette Roi

Patrick Chesnais
as Dr. Lepage

Niels Arestrup
as Roussin

Jean-Pierre Cassel
as Father Lucien/Shopkeeper

Olatz Lopez Garmendia
as Marie Lopez

Marina Hands
as Joséphine

Isaach De Bankolé
as Laurent

Gerard Watkins
as Dr. Cocheton

Jean-Philippe Watkins

Théo Sampaio
as Théophile

Fiorella Campanella
as Céleste Bauby

Talina Boyaci
as Hortense Bauby

Emma de Caunes
as Empress Eugenie

Jean-Philippe Écoffey
as Dr. Mercier

Nicolas Le Riche
as Nijinski

Anne Alvaro
as Betty

Françoise Lebrun
as Madame Bauby

Zinedine Soualem
as Joubert

Nicholas Le Riche
as Nijinski

Georges Roche
as Fourneau

Agathe De La Fontaine
as Inès

Franck Victor
as Paul

Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre
as Diane

Philippe Roux
as Nursing Auxiliary 2

Elvis Polanski
as Young Jean-Dominque

Yves-Marie Coppin
as Fisherman

Cedric Brelet Von Sydow
as Young Papinou

Francois Delaive
as Nurse

Marie Meyer
as Model

Daniel Lapostolle
as Auxiliary Nurse 1

Lenny Kravitz
as Himself

Azzedine Alaia
as Himself

Michael Wincott
as Himself

Francis Filloux
as Night Nurse

Jean-Baptiste Mondino
as Himself

Farida Khelfa
as Herself

Sara Séguéla
as Paraplegic at Lourdes

Vasile Negru
as Violinist

Ilze Bajare
as Model

Anna Chyzh
as Model

Antoine Breant
as Jean-Baptiste Mondino's Assistant

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News & Interviews for The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

Critic Reviews for The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

Audience Reviews for The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

• Mar 24, 2013

  One of the most stunning emotional knockouts recorded in cinematic history concerning an editor (Mathieu Amalric) who suffers a massive stroke, but remains determined to write his memoirs of his experiences through communicating with the only part of his body that isn't paralyzed, one of his eyes, to an aide. What director Julian Schnabel has constructed is an unnerving, extremely personal masterpiece in struggling to overcome an affliction, and the self-doubts, guilt, anger, and fleeting hope one encounters along the way. The acting is very good, although that is not what is most impressive about the film, which is how it is told through Amalric's character's perspective, showing just how much of a struggle something like this can be. While it is relentlessly sad, it is powerful and incredibly moving all the way through. This is a movie that should be a must-see for anyone who knows someone dealing with a stroke or some other kind of physical ailment. It does a flawless job capturing the emotional cycle and inner-thoughts of someone who deals with it, somehow, someway.
  

  Dan S Super Reviewer
• Oct 11, 2012

  Beautifully filmed, marvelously acted and emotionally resonant, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is an engaging achievement in filmmaking is near the epitome of novel-to-movie adaptations.
  Isaac H Super Reviewer
• May 24, 2012

  Julian Schnabel's THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY is an intimate drama that features not only an emotionally-engaging character at its core - a paralyzed man who learns to communicate with only one eye en route to miraculously and painstakingly managing to write an autobiography (true story) - but also a strong and bold visual style amidst an admirable and important subject matter - the impact and reality of suffering a stroke, its frightening possibilities, as well as the resiliency of overcoming such an accident. Mathieu Amalric delivers a fine performance as Jean-Dominic Bauby and impresses with his ability to capture the life of a paralyzed man by conveying emotions only through one eye. Amalric nails this difficult task and immediately connects viewers to his character's struggles. Aiding in this task is Janusz Kaminski's evocative and experimental cinematography. The camera often times acts as Bauby's perspective by taking on a first-person point of view - Kaminski captures this effectively by modifying the look to match the character's impaired vision; it mimics the character as it also cries, blinks, blurs, and moves. It is impressive work, and strongly complements the powerful story that Schnabel successfully tells. As admirable as all this may be, however, not much really happens in this film. Yes, it is a heartfelt story of a man fighting to cope, and yes, it contains delicate themes, but just because a film consists of important real-life issues and stirring based-on-true-event stories does not automatically mean it is a great one. By looking past this heavy topic, one may realize that Schnabel's film suffers from a narrative structure that proves to be too stinted and, well, too boring. It is a film that is purposely built around its repetition, which ends up being both its strength and weakness - it expresses the hardship of Bauby perfectly but prolongs the pace and disrupts the momentum of the film. The various cutaways to imaginative moments of Bauby's thoughts and dreams are fine attempts to break away from the claustrophobic mood that is established, but they don't really say much and in fact feel like pretentious additions by Schnabel to fluff up the importance of his main character. Why not show even more of Bauby's life prior to the accident instead? One would imagine that to know more about who this editor of 'Elle' is would mean to care for him more. For instance, his father is present, but only briefly and without real validity. Yes, the backbone of the story is there - writing an entire book with one eye is quite a feat - but the potential for greatness is unfortunately overlooked, and therefore leaves this admirably-made film, in my opinion, a bit disappointing.
  

  Sheldon C Super Reviewer
• Feb 01, 2012

  Terrific! That's the thing I was talking about!
  Lucas M Super Reviewer

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