.jeri.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly didn't come anywhere near where I live when it was in limited release, so I had to wait for Netflix. (Wow, I think my blog is basically free advertising for them since I love it so much.. that and TiVo! Speaking of which, I need to buy a Roku Netflix Player asap.) I'm trying to remember which other foreign films I saw from last year... I'm pretty sure none of them compared with this one.

The story is a true one, about Jean-Dominique Bauby (Mathieu Amalric), who was editor of Elle magazine until he had a massive stroke that left him with locked-in syndrome (complete paralysis, unable to speak). The movie begins with his point of view, waking up in a hospital after his stroke. The camera blurs often and is set at his eye-level, and the audience is able to hear his thoughts as he discovers what has happened to him. It's very effective (actually to the point where I was feeling a little bit queasy with the camera work and effects at first), and really gives the audience the experience of a person with locked-in syndrome.

Eventually, Bauby is able to communicate because he is able to blink his one working eye to answer yes or no. And after that, his therapist discovers that he can spell out words as she reads the alphabet to him and he blinks when she reads the correct letter. It's a slow process, but he actually writes a book using this method. As he goes through this process, he also has to deal with the changed relationships in his life, as a career man, a boyfriend, a father, and a son. Particularly touching is his relationship with his father, who is played beautifully by Max Von Sydow. There are many scenes flashing back to Bauby's former life, and eventually there is a flashback to the actual scene of his stroke. The way the movie weaves back and forth between his personal thoughts, his experiences, and his past is very fluid and very intimate.

The direction and acting in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly are superb, and I've never seen anything quite like it. It's a wonderful film and I would definitely recommend it to the mature audience.