The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

Somebody once told me that Michel Gondry had no balls. It was in relation to his last film "The Science of Sleep". I was having a discussion trying to determine the reasons why I left the theater pleased but with a feeling of emptiness-like something was missing from the film. Gondry's films are good but I came to realization that his characters only contain a certain amount of depth. Gondry chooses to utilize his kitschy surrealism and fantasy rather than ever explore the complexity of human emotion and memory. It is what Gondry does best, but it can leave the more skeptical viewer (as in my case) with a desire for a more involved exploration of the psyche that is only lightly touched upon in his films.
Gondry’s popular and nearly flawless film "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" was able to through the writing of Charlie Kaufman (Adaptation, Being John Malkovich) better explore these deeper aspects of ourselves and how we interact with others. However, it was not necessarily the characters of “Eternal Sunshine” that so moved us, but rather the marriage of Gondry's beautifully surreal, visual interpretation of a difficult heartbreak and the role of memory with Kaufman’s sporadic, fragmented emotional script.
It worked well and Jim Carrey pulled out the performance of his life. However, despite these successful combinations, the film still only touched on a level of depth before falling into to somewhat fantastical and imaginary world of Gondry.
I mention Gondry's work to discuss the film The Diving Bell and the Butterfly; a new film by Julian Schnabel (Before Night Falls, Basquiat). Besides being a mostly French film (the director is American), Diving Bell has a very similar feel of a Gondry film due to its utilization of dreamlike scenes as an integral part of the narrative and the characters. However, unlike Gondry, Diving Bell is able to marry its colorful surrealism with a deeply emotional complexity that Gondry’s films have never been able to reach.
Based off the book by former French "Elle' editor Jean-Dominique Bauby, the story tells the personal account of Bauby's experience suffering from “locked-in” syndrome after a stroke at 43. Bauby wrote his story through a series of blinks and a letter chart devised by his medical therapists. The film fluctuates between first-person camera perspective, scenes from his memory and imagination to visually reenact his experience being completely paralyzed except for his left eye. It’s a traumatic real-life tale that is a testament to the ability of an individual’s will to continue to exist in such drastic conditions.
However, the finest aspect of the film is its choice to never dwell on Bauby’s condition. It is the central aspect of the story but celebratory moments of happiness and success never come or become the focus. Rather, the film chooses to center on the incommodious nature of memory and the outcome of all our choices that we are constantly reminded of. The end result is a film that examines all the ephemeral moments of our life that can form the varying characteristics of whom we are.
The film breathes with the beeps of Bauby’s respirator and projects the frustration of a man’s inability to communicate to the exterior world. The linear narration begins to crumble as Bauby’s condition continues. Finally, at the film’s conclusion, a circle has been formed testifying that our lives do not exist on a linear plane but as a constant cycle-destined to be repeated but without exact sameness or total predictability. The nuances will always differ.

Ultimately, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is able to successfully depict the struggle of Bauby's existential dillema in his present state, and his constant reflection and return to a vanished past. The end result is a film that examines all the ephemeral nature of our existence and all moments that can form the varying characteristics of whom we are.
In the book, “The Geography of Bliss”, author Eric Weiner interviewed a man from Bhutan who stated that to really live a life of happiness, one must put aside a few minutes a day to think about death. The attempt at undertaking an understanding of our experiences must first begin with an understanding of our finite existence. This understanding helps to give us a perspective that all things are fleeting, constantly change and someday end.
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly contains a similar understanding of life; everything must be weighed down and balanced by its opposite. In conclusion, the film leaves the viewer with a sense of affirmation that the entirety of our emotions and experiences make up exactly what is should: being.
Unlike the other major films of 2007 which examined the degeneration of humanity (No Country for Old Men, There will be Blood); “The Diving Bell” offers hope without ever falling into clichés or overly emotional, heavy-handed sentimentality. It’s refreshing and something needed in lieu of an on-going war, a slowing economy, and other things dragging this country down. It’s not art’s task to implement hope into the observer, but its refreshing when it does it well-even when it’s not intended.
Director of the film and artist Julian Schnabel once said that, “Art is a utilitarian thing, not a decorative thing.” His latest work is just that- a film resonating emotionality that goes beyond the entertainment of mere images flashed upon the screen of the theater and into the marrow and minds of its viewers.