Diving Bell and the Butterfly

Theatrical Release Date: 2007 12 19 (USA - Limited)

UPC: 786936750119

Studio: Miramax

MPAA Rating: PG13   Contains:[Nudity, Adult Situations, Profanity, Sexual Situations]

Summary: The astonishing true-life story of Jean-Dominic Bauby -- a man who held the world in his palm, lost everything to sudden paralysis at 43 years old, and somehow found the strength to rebound -- first touched the world in Bauby's best-selling autobiography The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (aka La Scaphandre et la Papillon), then in Jean-Jacques Beineix's half-hour 1997 documentary of Bauby at work, released under the same title, and, ten years after that, in this Cannes-selected docudrama, helmed by Julian Schnabel (Basquiat) and adapted from the memoir by Ronald Harwood (Cromwell). The Schnabel/Harwood picture follows Bauby's story to the letter -- his instantaneous descent from a wealthy and congenial playboy and the editor of French Elle, to a bed-bound, hospitalized stroke victim with an inactive brain stem that made it impossible for him to speak or move a muscle of his body. This prison, as it were, became a kind of "diving bell" for Bauby -- one with no means of escape. With the editor's mind unaffected, his only solace lay in the "butterfly" of his seemingly depthless fantasies and memories. Because of Bauby's physical restriction, he only possessed one channel for communication with the outside world: ocular activity. By moving his eyes and blinking, he not only began to interact again with the world around him, but -- astonishingly -- authored the said memoir via a code used to signify specific letters of the alphabet. In Schnabel's picture, Mathieu Amalric tackles the difficult role of Bauby; the film co-stars Emmanuelle Seigner, Marie-Jos?e Croze, Anne Consigny, and Patrick Chesnais. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

Category: Drama

Awards: Best Director – Cannes Film Festival Prix Vulcain de l'Artiste-Technicien – Cannes Film Festival Film Presented – Karlovy Vary International Film Festival Film Presented – Toronto International Film Festival Film Presented – San Sebastián International Film Festival Film Presented – New York Film Festival Film Presented – Chicago International Film Festival Film Presented – Vancouver International Film Festival Best Feature – Independent Spirit Awards Best Feature – Independent Spirit Awards Best Director – Independent Spirit Awards Best Screenplay – Independent Spirit Awards Best Cinematographer – Independent Spirit Awards Best Picture – Los Angeles Film Critics Association Best Director – Los Angeles Film Critics Association Best Foreign Language Film – Los Angeles Film Critics Association Best Cinematography – Los Angeles Film Critics Association Best Director – Boston Society of Film Critics Best Foreign Language Film – Boston Society of Film Critics Best Picture – New York Film Critics Online Best Foreign Film – San Francisco Film Critics Circle Best Foreign Language Film – Washington D.C. Film Critics Association Best Picture – Broadcast Film Critics Association Best Director – Broadcast Film Critics Association Best Foreign Language Film – Broadcast Film Critics Association Best Foreign Language Film – null Best Director – null Best Screenplay – null Best Foreign Language Film – Chicago Film Critics Association Best Cinematography – Chicago Film Critics Association Best Picture – American Film Institute Best Picture – Southeastern Film Critics Association Best Foreign Language Film – Southeastern Film Critics Association Best Picture – Detroit Film Critics Society Best Director – Detroit Film Critics Society Best Actor – Detroit Film Critics Society Film Presented – Tokyo International Film Festival Best Foreign Language Film – St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association Best Non-English Language Feature – Utah Film Critics Best Foreign Language Film – Florida Film Critics Best Foreign Film – Oklahoma Film Critics Circle Best Foreign Film – Las Vegas Film Critics Association Best Foreign Language Film – San Diego Film Critics Association Best Director – Directors Guild of America Best Adapted Screenplay – Writers Guild of America Best Picture – National Society of Film Critics Best Foreign Language Film – National Society of Film Critics Best Director – National Society of Film Critics Best Screenplay – National Society of Film Critics Best Cinematography – National Society of Film Critics Best Foreign Language Film – Toronto Film Critics Association Best Cinematography – American Society of Cinematographers Best Foreign Language Film – Phoenix Film Critics Association Best Editing – Alliance of Women Film Journalists Best Foreign Film – Alliance of Women Film Journalists Best Picture – Dallas/Fort Worth Film Critics Association Best Director – Kansas City Film Critics Association Best Foreign Language Film – Kansas City Film Critics Association Best Art Direction in a Contemporary Film – Art Directors Guild Best Art Direction in a Contemporary Film – Art Directors Guild Best Picture – Ohio Film Critics Best Picture – Producers Guild of America Best Adapted Screenplay – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Foreign Language Film – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Foreign Language Film – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Foreign Language Film – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Cinematography – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Directing – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Editing – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Adapted Screenplay – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Film Presented – London Film Festival Film Presented – AFI Fest Best Screenplay – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Foreign Language Film – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Director – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Foreign Language Film – Boston Society of Film Critics

Features: Submerged: The making of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
A cinematic vision
Audio commentary with director Julian Schnabel
Charlie Rose interviews Julian Schnabel

Diving Bell and the Butterfly

Format: Digital Video Disc (DVD)

Release Date: 04/29/2008

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Theatre Wide-Screen

Audio: DD5.1 Dolby Digital 5.1

Runtime: 112 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English,French,Spanish

Subtitles: English,French,Spanish

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Disc #1 -- The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
1. Opening Credits
2. Berck-Sur-Mer
3. Locked-In
4. Two Beauties
5. The Wheelchair
6. The Alphabet
7. Hostage
8. Progress
9. A New Voice
10. Papinou
11. Father's Day
12. A Square Meal
13. Sunday
14. Our Very Own Madonna
15. Mr. L
16. A Call From Papinou
17. Declaration of Love
18. Ashes of Memory
19. "Le Scaphandre et le Papillon"
20. End Credits

Derek Armstrong

Julian Schnabel danced up to the edge of greatness in Basquiat and Before Night Falls. With The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, he plunges in headfirst. To call this a sophisticated achievement is a massive understatement, failing to appreciate how much nuance, warmth, and uniqueness of perspective is poured into Schnabel's third film. The fact that it's shot in French, a foreign tongue for the director, only adds to the feat. "Language," in the abstract sense, interests a visual artist like Schnabel greatly, and language is at the forefront of the true story of Jean-Dominique ("Jean-Do") Bauby, a paralyzed stroke victim who dictates his memoirs through eyelid blinks. Every affliction imaginable has been dramatized on film, but maybe we've never imagined something quite like locked-in syndrome. Bauby's fully functioning mind has only a single eyeball as an outlet for expression, and must spell out words by selecting them one letter at a time, blinking when the appropriate letter is recited to him. This could be the sole concentration of a really interesting film. But screenwriter Ronald Harwood has adapted Bauby's memoirs as a full-blooded character study, with a crucial assist from lead actor Mathieu Amalric, who excels at both ends of Bauby's spectrum: the carefree magazine editor, seen in flashbacks waltzing through glamorous photo shoots, and the gnarled human shell whose single eye darts about wildly, in an apparent state of permanent panic. Schnabel employs a variety of camera angles and techniques to mimic Jean-Do's perspective, as well as a recurring visual metaphor for his condition: a deep-sea diver plunged down to the depths, totally incommunicado. So effectively does Schnabel put us in his shoes, Jean-Do becomes our John Doe -- an ordinary man grappling (or sometimes failing to grapple) with extraordinary circumstances. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly explodes our preconceived notions about disease movies, emerging as one of the most striking films ever made about communication. The moving supporting performances -- including the quartet of women at his side, and Max von Sydow as his elderly father -- complete this rich and emotionally fulfilling package. ~ Derek Armstrong, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Pierre Grunstein  Executive Producer 
Ronald Harwood  Screenwriter 
Kathleen Kennedy  Producer 
Jon Kilik  Producer 
Julian Schnabel  Director 
Jim Lemley  Executive Producer 
Paul Cantelon  Composer (Music Score) 
Pierre Frunstein  Executive Producer 
Mathieu Amalric  Actor 
Emmanuelle Seigner  Actor 
Marie-Josée Croze  Actor 
Anne Consigny  Actor 
Patrick Chesnais  Actor 
Niels Arestrup  Actor 
Olatz Lopez Garmendia  Actor 
Jean-Pierre Cassel  Actor 
Marina Hands  Actor 
Gerard Watkins  Actor 
Theo Sampaio  Actor 
Fiorella Campanella  Actor 
Talina Boyaci  Actor 
Isaach de Bankolé  Actor 
Emma de Caunes  Actor 
Jean-Philippe Ecoffey  Actor 
Jean-Philippe Ecoffey  Actor 
Nicholas Le Riche  Actor 
Anne Alvaro  Actor 
Francoise Lebrun  Actor 
Zinedine Soualem  Actor 
Georges Roche  Actor 
Agathe de la Fontaine  Actor 
Yves-Marie Coppin  Actor 
François Delaive  Actor 
Franck Victor  Actor 
Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre  Actor 
Daniel Lapostolle  Actor 
Philippe Roux  Actor 
Francis Filloux  Actor 
Elvis Polanski  Actor 
Max von Sydow  Actor 
Sara Seguela  Actor 
Vasile Negru  Actor 
Marie Meyer  Actor 
Ilze Bajare  Actor 
Anna Chyzh  Actor 
Antoine Breant  Actor 
Azzedine Alaia  Actor 
Michael Wincott  Actor 
Jean-Baptiste Mondino  Actor 
Lenny Kravitz  Actor 
Farida Khelfa  Actor 

Country: France,USA