The Diving Bell and the Butterfly


I could have sworn I reviewed this but I can't find it here or on Beautiful Feet 1.0... Stumbled upon it and as soon as I saw and heard the E-S-A-R-I-N-T-U-L..., I remembered this wonderful film and watched it all again. Beautiful on so many levels. I appreciated it more this time, now that I knew more about director (2017) Julian Schnabel's work(s). 
An absolutely heartbreaking and at the same time inspiring movie about the true mid-life trauma suffered by Jean Dominique Bauby, chief editor of Elle magazine in France in the 90s. Excellent performances by all, including Mathieu Amalric, Emmanuelle Seigner, Anne Consigny and (2013) Les Beaux Jours' Patrick Chenais (who I know I reviewed but can't locate that post either. Grr.). 
After the movie, I read some background of the events from his children's points of view, which was interesting but should not be investigated til after viewing. One amateur reviewer described it as "cerebral," which I guess it is. I just like to think of Schnabel's treatment of the content as simultaneously cool and fucked up/occasionally trippy. 
As for the subtitles, you can tell they were done by a professional (probably one of my colleagues in the SUBTLE, the Subtitlers' Association) because they're pretty spot on and not like those by the many non-professional Netflix preferred vendors (usually not SUBTLErs), since it's 10 years old.
It brought to mind Me Before You (2016), Intouchables (2011), The Theory of Everything (2014) and The Sessions (2012). Which brings to mind that all of these but Intouchables represent men with handicaps being supported by strong women. Hmm.
Un bon film! Catch it while it's on Netflix.


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