Street Date: April 29
Official Synopsis:
From Miramax Films, acclaimed director Julian Schnabel, and the screenwriter of The Pianist comes a remarkable and inspiring true story about the awesome power of imagination. Experience the triumphant tale of renowned editor Jean-Dominique Bauby, a man whose love of life and soaring vision shaped his will to achieve a life without boundaries. You'll soon discover why David Benby of The New Yorker calls The Diving Bell And The Butterfly "nothing less than the rebirth of the cinema."
Our Take:
If someone were to tell me that he/she just watched an excellent film about a paralyzed man whose sole form of communication was blinking one eye, I would have been skeptical to say the least. But, if someone does tell you that, then just assume he/she is talking about The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is simply a testament to the limitless possibilities of film. Director Julian Schnabel avoids all the narrative pitfalls of a Hollywood biopic in delivering the inspiring tale of Jean-Dominique Bauby to the screen. Bauby went from being a man on top of the world with a plush job writing for French Elle, three kids, and a mistress, to a man trapped inside his own body. Schnabel does not make us feel bad for this man; while at times we may pity him, the script succeeds in not making this the focus of the film. The script allows us to enter the man’s mind, and view him as almost a fully functioning person; we share his access to his memories and frustrations with his state of being. In a film about a man trapped inside his own body, the film itself is never trapped by convention. Through effective blurring of the images on screen and point of view shots of Bauby communicating, we can relate to the character on a deeper level. Schnabel constructs each scene with a true artist’s control over the mise en scene that makes each shot capable of being framed and hung on a wall if one were to freeze the film and extract the picture on the screen.
The bonus features on the disc are:
* Audio Commentary with Director Julian Schnabel.
* Submerged: The Making of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (13 minutes).
* A Cinematic Vision (7 minutes).
* Charlie Rose Interviews Julian Schnabel (21 minutes).
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly has strengthened my belief that 2007 was and will be the best cinematic year of the decade. It is up there with No Country For Old Men, There Will Be Blood, and Zodiac as one of the many must-see films released in 2007.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
Overall Picture:
Movie: A
DVD: A-
- Matthew Orlando
Staff Writer
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