Here’s the Ticket

The Diving Bell and The Butterfly

(Le Scaphandre et le papillon)

The images are indiscernible. You can only make out shapes and even the shapes are blurry. You can focus in on a few things—TV, doctor… You hear, “Monsieur Bauby, Monsier Bauby…” You’re in a hospital.

The Diving Bell and The Butterfly begins through the vantage point of “Jean Do” Bauby, the former editor of Elle and details his post-coma life with “locked-in syndrome,” a rare illness where the mind is sharp, but the body cannot function.

Based on Bauby’s auto-biography written entirely by blinking one eye in a sort of Morse code system, the story is fascinating, sad with a dash of dry humor, and makes you think.

Bauby’s coming to terms with his sickness by using his imagination is a lesson for those of us who have ever felt trapped.

I was captivated by the movie even though it was a little slow. I wish they would have focused more on his life as an editor to get a better feel for how writing his auto-biography helped him make amends. Overall, the film’s cinematography was worth the ticket alone and was a great story about the human spirit.

Blog search directory