I don't know if it was a novel concept at the time, but one of the more interesting -- and now decades old - episodes of the TV show "M*A*S*H" was the one that was shown entirely from the point of view of one of the patients. From arriving at the mobile hospital via chopper through triage and post-op, it was a unique viewing experience as it not only included the show's usual character behavior and interaction, but also a perspective we'd hadn't ever really seen before.
That was the first thought that crossed my mind while watching director Julian Schnabel's "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly." A true-life tale -- adapted for the big screen by Ronald Harwood -- it's the story of Jean-Dominique Bauby, the then editor-in-chief of the French version of Elle Magazine who suffered a horrendous stroke that left him, for all intent purposes, completely paralyzed.
That is, except for the ability to control one lone eyelid, through which he learned how to communicate (one blink was an affirmative, two equaled "no"), and eventually "dictated" his memoir which became the novel of the same name.
Like the "M*A*S*H" episode, the film begins after the pivotal incident, and we see the disorienting and confused point of view of the protagonist (Mathieu Amalric) as he awakens from a three-week coma to learn his newfound, distressing state of affairs. While we hear him speak to the doctors and specialists who are right up in his space, staring into his eye, it isn't long before he and we learn that's just his inner voice.
Therapy then begins ( all accompanied by the protag's varied emotional responses to what's happened and is happening to him) with the focus being on a process where he manages to communicate to his speech therapist (Marie-Josée Croze) and then others (including Emmanuelle Seigner as the mother of his children) via choosing letters spoken to him. It's a painstaking process to say the least, especially when one considers the daunting task of "writing" a novel-length work using that method.
Accordingly, the second thing that came to my mind -- and mostly likely will do the same with others -- is whether the film would become a tedious and depressing exercise, especially with the many scenes featuring the spelling bit, and considering the point of view camerawork.
Thankfully, Schnabel and company don't stick with that singular route. Instead, they open things up via a variety of means including flashbacks (showing the main character in pre-stroke condition), regular shots of him and those around him, and more fanciful footage depicting his newly reassessed state of mind and imagination.
I suppose some may find some of that as too "arty" (such as the titular elements being played out -- Jean-Do mentally sees himself as a man trapped underwater in a diving bell suit), or the metaphors about being trapped (Max von Sydow in a terrific supporting performance as the main character's elderly and apartment-bound father, while there's talk of another character who ended up as a hostage when taking Jean-Do's seat on a plane that was later hijacked) as a little too blatant.
While some of that's valid, I thought most of it worked rather well, especially in wrapping the present around the past. And there's no denying the film has some incredibly powerful emotional moments. Perhaps the one place where the film falters a tiny bit is in the portrayal of the protagonist. Although there's certainly nothing wrong with Amalric in the part (whether in current paralyzed form or in flashback), he pales in comparison to Javier Bardem in a similar role in "The Sea Inside."
Of course, and despite the similarities, the two films feature characters with related but different agendas (Bardem's fights to end his life with dignity), but I found the previous movie a bit better artistically and certainly more emotionally affecting.
Nevertheless, this is still a good and ultimately uplifting offering that, when considering the subject matter, is something of an accomplishment in itself. Recipient of four Oscar nominations (Direction, Adapted Screenplay, Editing, and Cinematography), "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" rates as a 6.5 out of 10.
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