The Diving Bell And The Butterfly (Le scaphandre et le papillon)
Jean-Dominique Bauby was a successful journalist and author. At the height of his career, he was the editor of Elle magazine. But all that came crashing down after he suffered a massive stroke. The legacy of his stroke was a debilitating condition: Locked-In Syndrome, which left him completely paralysed, except for the use of one eye, which he learnt to blink to communicate. For better or worse, his mind was left in tact.
It was by using this method, that he narrated a book: Le Scaphandre et le papillon, The Diving Bell And The Butterfly, on which this film is based.
One of his physical therapists devised an alphabet in which the sequence of letters was based on the frequency of their use: with the highest frequency letters first. A scribe would recite the alphabet to Bauby, who would blink to indicate which letter he wanted to select.
This painstaking process required no less than two hundred thousand blinks in order to complete his book: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.
Julian Schnabel’s film of the same name, retraces Bauby’s slow recovery, interspersed with flashbacks to Bauby’s pre-paralysed life. This is not just a story about a stricken man’s journey, but a tale of empathy, and introspection. We share Bauby’s confusion as he rouses from his coma, surrounded by people who seem to be aware of who he is, but who are completely foreign to him.
We also get the idea that Bauby was far from perfect. Or perhaps he was just human. In the days following his stroke, when all he can do was lie in bed with his thoughts, what sort of life had he lived to reflect upon? If something debilitating were to bring your life to all but a halt, what sort of life would you have lived to date? This is an exceptional story, but there’s the lingering thought that it could happen to any one of us, at any time. Life is full of wonder, but can just as quickly take a capricious turn for the worst.
Schnabel – an artist as well as a filmmaker – has crafted a beautiful film, both visually and emotionally, that strikes a chord on many different levels.
There are many people around the world who have been trapped in bodies or circumstances that prevent them from achieving their goals: this film could well inspire them – and, indeed, the rest of us, for no life is without adversity.