Adapted from the eponymous memoir of Jean-Dominique Bauby, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (Le Scaphandre et le Papillon) was directed by Julian Schnabel.

Launching in 2007, it starred Mathieu Amalric.

Bauby was an accomplished journalist for fashion magazines, but suffered a stroke on December 8th 1995 that left him with locked-in syndrome. After the success of his 1997 memoir, this film set out to tell his story once again.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly’s Notes on Freedom Through Imagination

Films like this have a documentary feel, along the lines of Jason Becker: Not Dead Yet (2012) but with a sharper production focus.

Jean-Dominique Bauby (Amalric) was from Paris. He began a career in journalism in the 1970s and rose through the ranks, finding himself editor-in-chief for Le Matin de Paris.

Later in his career, he joined the famous Elle magazine and would go on to become its editor.

Aged 43 in 1995, when driving his young son to a night at the theatre, Bauby suffered an enormous stroke (cerebrovascular seizure).

The film begins with this explanation, followed by the loss, and a consideration on his three week coma.

His condition leaves him totally paralysed, trapped in his useless body. But with an otherwise perfectly functioning mind—a prison within his person.

The film manages this devastating neurological aspect well—confusion following on from a serious neurological issue.

A bit more irritating, on retrospect, is the arrival of the babes.

Dutifully looking after him we have these ladies doing the eye candy thing. Can’t say this was necessary, but it is film world we live in here.

We haven’t read the book yet, but we’d like to think Bauby (a married man) wasn’t eyeing up the cleavage of his nurses.

This restricted view of his locked-in syndrome does, gradually, give way to more advanced production. During which Bauby self-deprecates and ponders over his fate, including one eye (that needs to be sewn shut) and his lip aiming at an odd angle.

Where the The Diving-Bell and the Butterfly truly marks itself out is in its second act, where Bauby accepts his fate and realises his imagination can release him from his condition.

Humans are fantastic at this.

Where a most crippling, horrifying condition can give way to someone allowing their creativity and determination to power themselves through and continue on.

Whilst Bauby has regrets in his life, he nevertheless continues on and writes his memoir. To do this, he had to blink his left eyelid through a partner assisted scanning process. His transcriber recited letters from the French alphabet and he’d blink at the right letter.

This process took two months whilst working three hours a day all week.

Meanwhile, he had to store and edit his manuscript in his head. Some 200,000 blinks later and the book was done. An astonishing achievement.

Sadly, just two days after the book was published he died from pneumonia (9th March 1997). The book was an instant best seller, shifting 150,000 copies in one week.

Despite our issue with ogling ladies, the film adaptation is a powerful biopic.

The film is frightening. Most people watching will pray to Zombie Jesus locked-in syndrome doesn’t happen to them.

But along the lines of Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie (2023) and many other films showing the trials and tribulations of humanity, it’s a fine display of how to deal with staggering adversity.

The Production of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

Directed by Julian Schnabel (an American painter and filmmaker) the film cost $12.8 million to make and made $19.8 million at the box office.

Not a considerable return. Yet it was a critical darling, winning awards at Cannes, the Golden Globes, BAFTAS and the César Award. It also got Oscar nods.

For its production, some of the movie was shot in the hospital where Bauby was treated. This involved many staff members who’d treated the man himself.

Apparently, Johnny Depp was originally set to play the lead. But he dropped out due to his Pirates of the Caribbean commitments.

Gary Oldman was then preferred, but a French lead was (quite rightly) set in the form of Mathieu Amalric. His narration plays out for the first 40 minutes of the film, with his insular point of view across events.

Director Schnabel also insisted the film use French language.

This may have affected its box office performance as it played out with subtitles. But from an artistic perspective, it was the right choice.

The film’s lack of commercial success we feel has hindered its longstanding reputation, but we remember it. And want to sing its praises here.