- Sam Raimi Wants to 'Get Back to the Basics' on Spider-Man 4 (111 Comments)
- Must Watch: Teaser Trailer for A Nightmare on Elm Street! (109 Comments)
- Must Watch: Intense Trailer for Mel Gibson's Edge of Darkness (81 Comments)
- Must Watch: Second Official Trailer for Lee Daniels' Precious (78 Comments)
- Check These Out: High Res New Na'vi Photos from Avatar! (77 Comments)
- Paul Blart Director Steve Carr Hired for the Short Circuit Remake (Oct 27, 2009)
- Hitman's Xavier Gens Set to Direct Action Thriller 'The Fallout' (Oct 27, 2009)
- Bruckheimer & Straczynski Adapting 2K's Shattered Union (Oct 27, 2009)
- Steve Carell on Par for Rick Reilly Golf Comedy 'Missing Links' (Oct 26, 2009)
- Jason Reitman Calls Edgar Wright's Scott Pilgrim 'Matrix for Love' (Oct 26, 2009)
- Matt Damon & Josh Brolin Joining the Coen Brothers' True Grit (Oct 26, 2009)
- Ricky Gervais to Host the 67th Annual Golden Globe Awards (Oct 26, 2009)
- Woody Allen's New Film Titled 'You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger' (Oct 26, 2009)
| Inglourious Basterds | 10/10 |
| It Might Get Loud | 9/10 |
| Inglourious Basterds | 8.5/10 |
| Star Trek | 9/10 |
| Monsters vs Aliens | 5/10 |
TIFF Review: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
September 12, 2007
by Alex Billington
- US Release Date: November 30, 2007 (Limited)
- Genre: Drama, Biography
- MPAA: Rated PG-13 (for nudity, sexual content and some language)
- Running Time: 112 minutes
- Directed by: Julian Schnabel
- The Diving Bell and the Butterfly on IMDb
8.5/10
Imagine being completely immobile from head to toe except for your eye and eye-lid, being forced to communicate entirely through blinks. That's the real-life story told in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly and it's a harrowing personalized look at that life that Jean-Dominique Bauby (Mathieu Amalric) had to live after barely surviving a coma-inducing stroke. Told fascinatingly by filmmaker Julian Schnabel (Before Night Falls), Butterfly throws the audience headfirst (literally) into the film by using a first-person point of view right off the bat and for a majority of the film. While not every scene is in first-person, it's not only a moving film but also a thrilling experience being forced to live in that same world that Jean-Dominique did.
This tragic comedy may initially seem boring or even annoying, but after the first twenty minutes once you've laughed at the thoughts in the mind of Jean-Dominique, you'll certainly have a much different opinion. I immediately thought of 2004's The Sea Inside when watching Butterfly, and in similar fashion, this film is as moving and as thoroughly entertaining as that Best Foreign Language Oscar winner. While still a different story and filled with a bit more comedy, Butterfly is just as enduring and heartfelt. It's hard to consider laughing at such a sad story, but pulling that off as well as it did shows Schnabel's immense capability as a filmmaker.
Although the point-of-view in the film is mostly from Jean-Dominique's eye, a cast of French beauties (Emmanuelle Seigner, Marie-Josée Croze, and Olatz Lopez Garmendia) comprises most of the on-screen eye-candy and I won't deny that it was a pleasure watching them for 112 minutes. The grace and elegance from these three is truly what made Butterfly wonderful. Unfortunately as much as the film had been building its way to a grand finale, it's the only part where it fell flat on its face and failed to deliver as powerfully as the remainder.
Schnabel won the Best Director award at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year and I now understand why he earned that distinction. Unless I'm otherwise persuaded by another fine foreign film, I'm strongly supporting The Diving Bell and the Butterfly for this year's Best Foreign Language Oscar.
•  |
Related Articles
- » Worth Watching - Oct 28: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly Trailer
- » TIFF Day 5: Racing Towards the Finish + New Oscar Hopefuls
- » TIFF Day 7: The End is Here!
- » Freida Pinto Also Joins Julian Schnabel's Miral
- » TIFF Day 6: Great Comedies + Wrapping Up
- » New York Magazine's Year in Movies Top List
Reader Feedback - 0 Comments »
No comments yet.