The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is a movie based off the true story written by Jean Dominique Bauby or “Jean-Do” written while he was in the hospital. The cast of the movie includes Mathieu Amalric, who plays Jean Dominique, Marie- Josée Croze, who portrays the translator of the book. The movie also stars Emmanuelle Seigner (mother of children), Anne Consigny (speech pathologist), Max von Sydow (father), Patrick Chesnais (doctor) and Niels Arestrup (friend). The film was directed by Julian Schnabel and was released in 2007.
Jean- Dominique Bauby, the editor and chief of French fashion magazine, Elle has a sudden cerebrovascular accident at the age of 42. He was a family man, father of two, who loved to live life and was extremely wealthy. After his stroke, life changed drastically for him, and the once adventurous, loving and care free man, turned into a frustrated, grumpy, miserable man. When Jean- Dominique woke up after is stroke, in the hospital, he was very confused and dazed, he did not know why he was there, and he did not understand why he could not move or why people were not understanding him when he spoke. It was not until the neurologist came into the room, that he found out why the nurses and doctors were not understanding him and how severe his cerebrovascular accident really was. When Neurologist, Dr. Lepage came in, he told Mr. Bauby that he had suffered from locked in syndrome, and that he was paralyzed head to toe and would need lots of therapy.
Locked-in syndrome is defined as “a rare neurological disorder in which there is complete paralysis of all voluntary muscles except for the ones that control the movements of the eyes. Individuals with locked-in syndrome are conscious and awake but have no ability to produce movements (outside of eye movement) or to speak (aphonia). Cognitive function is usually unaffected. Communication is possible through eye movements or blinking. Locked-in syndrome is caused by damaged to the pons, a part of the brainstem that contains nerve fibers that relay information to other areas of the brain” (Sahoo S, Pearl PL., 2018), locked- in syndrome has no cure. Some characteristics of locked in syndrome, that Bauby suffered from, include; difficulty walking, paralysis, coordination problems, blurred vision, loss of sight in one eye, difficulty speaking, slurred speech (before he was in the hospital), numbness, difficulty swallowing, and impaired tongue movement. With these symptoms, Jean- Dominique was assigned a speech language pathologist and a physiotherapist for swallowing.
While going through therapy, a few techniques were used to help him communicate. First, they tested his eye movement to see if he would be able to communicate that way, since the rest of his body was paralyzed, and when they realized he could, they used the yes/no method, which meant one blink for yes, and two blinks for no. Also, they used a communication board for the most common words and phrases in French and when he wanted to communicate, the speech language pathologist or whoever was in the room would have to recite every word until Dominique blinked, so he could form sentences; this technique was used when dictating his memoir. Throughout this process, Jean- Dominique was very angry at the world, he did not feel as close to his family, he could not drive his fast cars and he could not even enjoy the foods and drinks he wanted to, he often felt humiliated, he had to be fed, bathed and dressed like a baby and was talked about all over the news. He was so miserable, he even said he wanted to die. He felt so helpless, in one of the scenes a fly was sitting on his nose and he could not get it off and it took several minutes for anyone to notice, little things like that, turned into insecurity and dreadfulness. However, there were two things that kept him going and giving him the will to live, besides his eye, two things were not paralyzed that could make him forget everything he was going through; imagination and memory.
While in his hospital bed, or when he was wheeled around the hospital, he could escape into his imagination and pretend he was eating steak and drinking wine and going on dates with beautiful women, and playing with his children, he felt like a man again. Throughout this movie, Dominique looked back into his past and realized a lot of pain he put people through, he felt guilty for never writing his wrongs. For example, he was dating this girl who really loved him and would do anything for him and he broke up with her because she did not want to engage in sexual activity anymore because she wanted to be religious again. Another example is his relationship with the mother of his children, he never treated her right and put work before her and his kids at times. Lastly, and the most tragic one of all, was the incident on the plane. Dominique had booked a flight to Hong Kong and his friend and colleague Rosseau had an important obligation and asked Bauby if he could take his seat and Dominique gave him the seat. Unfortunately, the plane ended up being hijacked and Rosseau was tortured for months and held hostage in a cellar. When Rosseau came to visit in the hospital, in his mind Dominique asked himself “Why didn’t I call?” he had felt terrible and so guilty for never calling his friend after something so horrific happened. He knew it would’ve been him on the plane and had too much guilt to call.
After is stroke, Jean- Do had a lot of time to think, and he became a better person because of it. He thought of life in a new way, he took his relationships more seriously, and realized who was really there for him. Before his stroke, him and his dad had a really tight bond, but after suffering from Dementia, communication got harder and harder. Now that Dominique’s communication was impaired, both him and his dad felt “locked in” and their bond with each other, even though difficult, got a lot stronger. When his dad called him for the first time since his accident, they had an emotional connection they had never had before, and that scene was a real tear jerker.
Throughout this journey, Bauby still kept his sense of humor, he loved his children more than ever and got back into the groove of writing again. Before his stroke, Jean- Dominique had a book deal with a company in France, but when the accident occurred, they thought he would back out, but his determination to keep going gave him the strength to say that he wanted to continue with the deal and that is how his memoir came to be.
Unfortunately, 10 days after his book was published to the world, Bauby died from pneumonia, being that he was already in bad shape, he could not fight the disease. Dominique’s memoir sold millions of copies and the movie won multiple awards, Dominique is remembered for his contributions to the fashion industry and for his dedication and will to live through such a difficult time.
As far as critiquing the movie, I did not find there to be any methods that they used incorrectly. He had a speech language pathologist, a physiotherapist and an occupational therapist. They used techniques that all patients with strokes use, like eye movement communication and communication boards and the doctors gave him a tracheotomy, so he could breathe properly. This movie was absolutely brilliant, well- made, and really played with the viewers emotions. With every emotion depicted this film took us on a journey through hardship and triumph and was even rated 4/4 by Roger Ebert an award-winning movie critic. This movie was truly amazing, and the acting really put the audience in Jean- Dominique’s shoes, and gave us a glimpse at the tragic reality he had to face and how his will and determination brought him back to life.