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Diving Bell and the Butterfly, The
Miramax Films

Diving Bell and the Butterfly, The reviews


8.1

based on 36 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 68 votes
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FILM:

Internet Movie Database

MPAA RATING: PG-13 for nudity, sexual content and some language

Starring Mathieu Amalric, Emmanuelle Seigner, Marie-Josée Croze, and Max von Sydow

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is the remarkable true story of Jean-Dominique Bauby, a successful and charismatic editor-in-chief of French Elle, who believes he is living his life to its absolute fullest when a sudden stroke leaves him in a life-altered state. While the physical challenges of Bauby's fate leave him with little hope for the future, he begins to discover how his life's passions, his rich memories and his newfound imagination can help him achieve a life without boundaries. (Miramax Film)

GENRE(S):	Drama
WRITTEN BY:	Ronald Harwood
DIRECTED BY:	Julian Schnabel
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: April 29, 2008 Theatrical: November 30, 2007
RUNNING TIME:	112 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	France / USA
LANGUAGE(S):	French / English

Alternative Title: Le Scaphandre et le papillon

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

New York Magazine David Edelstein

The film is a masterpiece in which “locked-in” syndrome becomes the human condition.

100

The New Yorker David Denby

Schnabel’s movie, based on the calm and exquisite little book that Bauby wrote in the hospital, is a gloriously unlocked experience, with some of the freest and most creative uses of the camera and some of the most daring, cruel, and heartbreaking emotional explorations that have appeared in recent movies.

100

Newsweek David Ansen

Schnabel, screenwriter Ronald Harwood and Spielberg's great cinematographer Janusz Kaminski have found a way to take us inside Bauby's mind--his memories, his fantasies, his loves and lusts--transforming a story of physical entrapment and spiritual renewal into exhilarating images.

100

Premiere Glenn Kenny

Every performer in the international cast -- Seigner, de Bankole, von Sydow (magnificent as Bauby's father), and the late Jean-Pierre Cassel to name but a few -- completely disappears into each of their roles, which I think is as much a testament to Schnabel's talents as to theirs.

100

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

The movie has done what those who've cherished the book might have thought impossible -- intensified its singular beauty by roving as free and fearlessly as Bauby's mind did.

100

TV Guide Ken Fox

Amalric is extraordinary, creating a character literally without moving a muscle.

100

New York Post Lou Lumenick

You won't have a more viscerally emotional experience at the movies this year.

100

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

The picture is so imaginatively made, so attuned to sensual pleasure, so keyed in to the indescribable something that makes life life, that it speaks of something far more elemental than mere filmmaking skill: This is what movies, at their best, can be.

100

The Hollywood Reporter Ray Bennett

Director Julian Schnabel and screenwriter Ronald Harwood have performed a small miracle in adapting for the screen Jean-Dominique Bauby's autobiography The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.

100

Washington Post Ann Hornaday

Thanks to Bauby's courageous and honest writing, and Schnabel's poetic interpretation, what could have been a portrait of impotence and suffering becomes a lively exploration of consciousness and a soaring ode to liberation.

100

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

At the end we are left with the reflection that human consciousness is the great miracle of evolution, and all the rest (sight, sound, taste, hearing, smell, touch) are simply a toolbox that consciousness has supplied for itself.

100

Chicago Reader Andrea Gronvall

he Diving Bell and the Butterfly fuses experimental techniques with a highly accessible and sometimes humorous narrative; it’s deeply personal yet universal in its humanism.

100

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

It is wonderful: a rhapsodic adaptation of a memoir, a visual marvel that wraps its subject in screen romanticism without romanticizing his affliction. It left me feeling euphoric.

100

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

The adjective “inspirational” doesn't do justice to the quality of Schnabel's film.

100

Film Threat Matthew Sorrento

Schnabel's film is so steeped in the visual that it is surely the purest of cinema.

100

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly provides an ecstatic lift for movielovers, despite the tragic subject.

100

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

Moviegoers are turned off by depressing topics, yet "Diving Bell" supplies something film fans claim they want: pure escapism, the chance to experience extreme sensations virtually none of us will ever have.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

Mathieu Amalric, best known as an arms dealer in "Munich." In a role that strips him entirely of vanity and denies him virtually every expressive tool, Amalric makes a genuinely touching impression.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

The most beautiful movie ever made about a man who could only move one eyelid -- almost dangerously beautiful.

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

In a film that overwhelmingly avoids happy-faced pronouncements, this one sticks out.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Tasha Robinson

Schnabel's sleepy, drifty, at times morbidly funny film tackles something more ambitious, by getting into the head of someone who's trying to get out of there himself.

Slate Dana Stevens

With the help of brilliant French actor Mathieu Amalric, Spielberg's longtime cinematographer Janusz Kaminski, and screenwriter Ronald Harwood (The Pianist), Schnabel has made a marvelous film that uses images with as much grace and flair as Bauby used words.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

Simultaneously uplifting and melancholy, suffused with an unexpected sense of possibility as much as the inevitable sense of loss.

The New York Times A.O. Scott

In his memoir Mr. Bauby performed a heroic feat of alchemy, turning horror into wisdom, and Mr. Schnabel, following his example and paying tribute to his accomplishment, has turned pity into joy.

Austin Chronicle Josh Rosenblatt

Could easily have tipped over into melodrama, but Schnabel is too much an artist to let that happen; he realizes that in order to make his hero truly substantial, and not just sympathetic, he has to present him as an ordinary man making the best of extraordinarily lousy circumstances. By doing so he’s created a character we not only marvel at but identify with.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

The film is more than laborious eye-blinking - it's also dazzling visually, its potent imagery conjured by cinematographer Janusz Kaminski. But finally, Diving Bell is about something imperceptible: consciousness.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

He even calls the majestic view from one of the hospital landings his Cinecittà, after the legendary Italian film studio. The movie is a Cinecittà of the mind.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

The movie will wipe you out. Schnabel's previous two films (Basquiat, Before Night Falls) also focused on artists. But this is his best film yet, a high-wire act of visual daring and unquenchable spirit.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

The movie never falls into gushy moments of inspiration and Schnabel never tries to manipulate any particular response from the audience. We're left to make of it what we will.

Empire Alan Morrison

A poignant reflection on what it means to be alive and, visually, a true cinematic experience.

Variety Justin Chang

Most compelling in its attempts to re-create the experience of paralysis onscreen, gorgeously lensed pic morphs into a dreamlike collage of memories and fantasies, distancing the viewer somewhat from Bauby's consciousness even as it seeks to take one deeper.

USA Today Claudia Puig

Whereas the book was lyrical and moving, the movie is surrealistic and inventive.

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

Take us on an indelible tour through the highest and lowest points of the human experience.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

By the end, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly achieves a victory over difficult material, but celebrating that fact doesn't preclude recognizing the story is not a natural for movies and remains an uneasy match.

Time Richard Schickel

Still, somewhat shame-faced I have to admit that at some point in the film I began to hear a subversive voice whispering in my ear, and what it was saying was, "Could you blink a little faster, pal?"

Village Voice Scott Foundas

Far too often, though, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly feels grotesquely calculated, especially the more Schnabel ratchets up the inspirational platitudes of exactly the sort that Bauby--who maintained an acerbic sense of humor about his situation until the very end--would have despised.

The average user rating for this movie is 8.1 (out of 10) based on 68 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

J F gave it a10:
Brilliant on every level. One of the most effective and affecting films I have ever seen.

Jay H. gave it an8:
Wow, what a powerful and moving film. Excellent direction and performances, beautiful photography. It's not a film that you would easily forget. Very well edited. Exceptional.

John B. gave it a10:
Wow, I was blown away by this movie. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly truly is an experience. The visuals are simply stunning. The characters presented are so real and humanistic. The material here IS depressing but you are immediately thrown into the mind of Bauby, who never asks for sympathy, yet never ignores the struggles he goes through. We got the rare opportunity to experience the real human that is in every one of us. Schnabel convinces us we ARE Bauby by using the camera in unique ways. It's interesting. a camera is essentially one eye on set and we are able to see through that one eye, the same one being Bauby's. The camera IS Bauby's eye, the only one he can see through. Absolutely fantastic.

Mel N. gave it a3:
While many men might like to imagine that should they find themselves "locked in" they would be able to command a troupe of beautiful women who would devote their lives to selflessy caring for them and crying over them, the scenario doesn't come across as realistic. It comes across as sentimental, sexist drivel. I haven't read the book but would be surprised if the scene where the wife "translates" his message for the lover without a word of complaint (but lots of silent tears) actually took place.

Paul gave it a10:
I dont like many films. They bore me. I want real stories. The art is in the story-telling not the action. A good story is not one whose content is WOW. It's one which is well told. A good story teller can captivate you with tales of how he does his grocery shopping. The plot of this film is simple. Man enters coma. Man tries to get better. Man writes book. The End. No guns. No fighting. No sex. Beautifully told. The French have a nack for producing films with a strong artistic bent. Beautifully shot. Dripping with philosophyical weight. This is one such movie. Every 5 minutes a new seed for thought is planted, allowed to flourish and cut down. I implore you to watch this film if you have a concentration span of more than 5 minutes. Typical of criticisms are responses like those ushered by the Time magazine reviewer where he "began to hear a subversive voice whispering in my ear, and what it was saying was, "Could you blink a little faster, pal?" " I cant help but notice the irony when the film questions our "want it all, now" culture by contrasting his life as the editor of a superficial magazine with one where he is forced to think. Indeed it is in this contrast that much character development lies. In subtleties rather than plotlines reminiscent of epic Shakesperean tragedies. Go see it.

Kasey S. gave it a10:
How did this movie not get nominated for Best Picture? Incredible. Cinematography like you've never seen.

Ashly G. gave it a7:
For a story that is this unfilmable, Shnabel should be applauded at keeping the audience watching the entire time!

Diving Bell and the Butterfly, The Miramax Films

Diving Bell and the Butterfly, The
Miramax Films