Butterfly and diving bell

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Movie
German title Butterfly and diving bell
Original title Le scaphandre et le papillon
Country of production France , USA
original language French
Publishing year 2007
length 112 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
JMK 6
Rod
Director Julian Schnabel
script Ronald Harwood
production Kathleen Kennedy ,
Jon Kilik
music Paul Cantelon
camera Janusz Kamiński
cut Juliette Welfling
occupation

Butterfly and diving bell (original title: Le scaphandre et le papillon ) is a French biopic from 2007 by director Julian Schnabel . The screenplay was written by Ronald Harwood based on the autobiographical novel of the same name by Jean-Dominique Bauby .

action

The 43-year-old Jean-Dominique Bauby , editor-in-chief of the French edition of Elle magazine and only known by friends as Jean-Do, suffered a stroke in the brain stem area on December 8, 1995 and fell into a coma . When he wakes up after 20 days, his whole body is paralyzed and can only move his left eyelid , but is mentally unrestricted and can sense everything around him. The doctors diagnose what is known as locked-in syndrome . The speech therapist Henriette Durand works with him to develop a communication option using a board on which the letters are lined up according to their frequency in the French language. She reads the letters to him and as soon as the correct letter is named, he winks his eye. At first, however, Jean-Do doesn't want to communicate, he feels locked in his body and just wants to die as quickly as possible. The physiotherapist Marie Lopez trains his lips and tongue in particular with him in order to lead him back to speech. However, he does not succeed in doing more than forming grunts. However, the therapists cause him to embark on a new path in life with his situation.

Bauby realizes that he is mentally active and free like a butterfly. His creativity and memories also stayed with him. So he decides to dictate a book using his new communication method. He dictates letter by letter and reflects on his life and his relationships with those close to him. There is the mother of his three children, Céline Desmoulins, whom he only recently left and who visits him first alone, then with the children in the hospital. His 92-year-old father can no longer visit him because the old man can no longer climb stairs and leave his apartment himself. His current lover does not come to visit him either - she sends a message that she would rather keep him in memory as he was before the stroke. Bauby has to realize that although he led a successful life, he was not a lovable person who can now expect the attention of his neighbors. He finally finishes his book. The film ends with the text overlay: " Jean-Dominique Bauby died on March 9, 1997, 10 days after his book was published ". In the credits, Schnabel has recordings of glacier ice falling into the water running backwards, accompanied by songs by Joe Strummer and Tom Waits .

background

  • The French word scaphandre in the original title actually means diving suit or helmet diving device (German obsolete: Skaphander). The film also shows a corresponding helmet diving device and not a diving bell as the German title suggests.
  • Lenny Kravitz has a short guest appearance in the film and plays himself in it.
  • Olatz López Garmendia, who plays Marie Lopez in the film, is the wife of director Julian Schnabel.
  • Filming began in October 2006. The film was shot in Berck (the hospital scenes were filmed there in the actual Hôpital Maritime hospital where Jean-Dominique Bauby was treated) and in Lourdes .
  • The film grossed around 20 million US dollars in cinemas around the world, including around 2 million US dollars in Germany.
  • It premiered on May 22, 2007 as part of the 2007 Cannes International Film Festival competition. The cinema release in France was on May 23, 2007, in Germany on March 27, 2008.

criticism

source rating
Rotten tomatoes
critic
audience
Metacritic
critic
audience
IMDb

At Rotten Tomatoes , 94% of the reviews are positive, out of a total of 164 reviews. The consensus of the critics is: "Breathtaking images and dynamic presentations make the film an impressive film biography".

The German-language film reviews were largely unanimous in their unreserved praise for the butterfly and diving bell . It was said that Bauby told his story in his book with ease and wit, and that the film was an ingenious visualization of the original. He avoided kitschy or false pathos, as well as morality and religious transcendence. Director Schnabel never loses sight of the human dimension. The tone in which the main character speaks to the audience is ironic, melancholic, free of self-pity, "unspeculative as unspectacular" and "breathtakingly unsentimental". You discover an almost weightless film that is cheerful and offers liberating comedy and gallows humor over and over again. He found positive things in misfortune and reinforced the self-irony laid out in the book. It is “not a film about a terrible fate, but about the greatness of the human mind.” Thanks to memories and imagination, the narrative finds great ease.

Cinematographer Janusz Kamiński transports us into Bauby's interior in a breathtaking way, let us suffer his condition, but then lead us out of this condition. In this way the story becomes an allegory on the medium of cinema, since the viewer is included when viewing it in a similar way to Bauby. The suction of images creates an “overwhelming compassion”. The images of this “extremely sensual” film are poetic and grandiose, and are overwhelmingly beautiful and rich in visual ideas. The cameraman is "ingenious" "brilliant" and deserves high awards. His original camera effects are not an end in themselves, they are entirely at the service of history, for which they develop their own semiotics. Bauby's actor Mathieu Amalric , who has little leeway for acting, is “splendid” or “flawless”, uses his voice in a rousing manner, and wisely plays with restraint. There was also talk of an "exquisitely composed ensemble" and a "masterful" Max von Sydow.

Awards

  • The film was nominated in four categories at the 2008 Academy Awards: Julian Schnabel for Best Director , Ronald Harwood for Best Adapted Screenplay , Janusz Kaminski for Best Cinematography and Juliette Welfling for Best Editing .
  • Golden Globe Awards 2008 : Julian Schnabel won in the category of Best Director and the film as Best Foreign Language Film . In addition, Ronald Harwood was nominated for Best Screenplay.
  • At the 2008 César award , Mathieu Amalric won the Best Actor Actor and Juliette Welfling won the Best Editing category . The film was nominated in five other categories: Best Film , Best Director , Best Cinematography , Best Adapted Screenplay , Best Sound .

literature

Book template

Conversations about the film

  • With Julian Schnabel in Focus Magazin , March 17, 2008, pp. 110–111: "We are all prisoners!"
  • With Julian Schnabel in the Frankfurter Rundschau , March 26, 2008, magazine, p. 40: Against the fear of death
  • With Julian Schnabel in the Berliner Zeitung , March 27, 2008, Kulturkalender, p. 2: In the head of the patient

Review mirror

The following reviews were all positive:

  • Cinema No. 4/2008, p. 54, by Ulrike Schröder: Butterfly and diving bell
  • epd Film No. 4/2008, p. 39, by Barbara Schweizerhof: Butterfly and diving bell
  • film-dienst No. 7/2008, p. 30, by Ulrich Kriest: Butterfly and diving bell
  • Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , March 26, 2008, p. 33, by Michael Althen: Life and nothing but life
  • Frankfurter Rundschau , March 27, 2008, p. 35, by Michael Kohler: Buried in one's own body
  • Neue Zürcher Zeitung , February 28, 2008, p. 47, by Christoph Egger: The stroke, the silence, the love, the sea
  • Der Tagesspiegel , March 26, 2008, p. 21, by Jan Schulz-Ojala: Life, one wing beat
  • taz , March 26, 2008, p. 16, by Bert Rebhandel: Away from everyday life
  • Welt am Sonntag , March 23, 2008, p. 68, by Sven von Reden: Pictures as if painted with light

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Release certificate for butterfly and diving bell . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , October 2008 (PDF; test number: 113 432 DVD).
  2. ↑ Age designation for butterfly and diving bell . Youth Media Commission .
  3. ↑ Michael Althen: Ode to joy: "Butterfly and diving bell" in FAZ.net , March 27, 2008, accessed on June 15, 2012
  4. ↑ a b Butterfly and diving bell at Rotten Tomatoes , accessed April 26, 2015
  5. ↑ a b Butterfly and diving bell at Metacritic , accessed on April 26, 2015
  6. ↑ Butterfly and diving bell in the Internet Movie Database (English)
  7. ^ The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007). Rotten Tomatoes , accessed on March 3, 2015 (English): "Breathtaking visuals and dynamic performances make The Diving Bell and the Butterfly a powerful biopic."
  8. ↑ a b c d film-dienst No. 7/2008, p. 30, by Ulrich Kriest
  9. ↑ a b c d Der Tagesspiegel, March 26, 2008, p. 21, by Jan Schulz-Ojala: Life, a wing beat
  10. ↑ a b c d e f Sven von Reden: Pictures as if painted with light . In: Welt am Sonntag , March 23, 2008, p. 68
  11. ↑ a b taz, March 26, 2008, p. 16, by Bert Rebhandel: Away from everyday life
  12. ↑ a b c d e f g h Christoph Egger: The stroke, the silence, the love, the sea . In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung , February 28, 2008, p. 47
  13. ↑ a b Cinema No. 4/2008, p. 54, by Ulrike Schröder
  14. ↑ a b c d Frankfurter Rundschau, March 27, 2008, p. 35, by Michael Kohler: Buried in my own body
  15. ↑ a b c d epd Film No. 4/2008, p. 39, by Barbara Schweizerhof
  16. ↑ a b Der Spiegel, March 22, 2008, p. 161