The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007) - Movie

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007)
Jean-Dominique Bauby (Mathieu Amalric), editor-in-chief of French fashion bible Elle magazine, has a devastating stroke at age 43. The damage to his brain stem results in locked-in syndrome, with which he is almost completely paralyzed and only able to communicate by blinking an eye. Bauby painstakingly dictates his memoir via the only means of expression left to him.
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Release Date: December 19th, 2007

PG-13 |1 hr 54 min

Plot Summary

Jean-Dominique Bauby (Mathieu Amalric), editor-in-chief of French fashion bible Elle magazine, has a devastating stroke at age 43. The damage to his brain stem results in locked-in syndrome, with which he is almost completely paralyzed and only able to communicate by blinking an eye. Bauby painstakingly dictates his memoir via the only means of expression left to him.

Cast: Mathieu Amalric, Emmanuelle Seigner, Marie-Josée Croze, Anne Consigny, Patrick Chesnais, Niels Arestrup, Olatz Lopez Garmendia, Jean-Pierre Cassel

Director: Julian Schnabel

Genres: Biography , Drama

Production Co: Canal+

Keywords: Fall, France, Transformation, Hospital, Doctor, Engaging, Emotional, Survival, 1990s, Car

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Ratings & Reviews

100
Michael PhillipsChicago Tribune
It is wonderful: a rhapsodic adaptation of a memoir, a visual marvel that wraps its subject in screen romanticism without romanticizing his affliction. It left me feeling euphoric. show more
100
Roger EbertChicago Sun-Times
At the end we are left with the reflection that human consciousness is the great miracle of evolution, and all the rest (sight, sound, taste, hearing, smell, touch) are simply a toolbox that consciousness has supplied for itself. show more
100
Ray BennettThe Hollywood Reporter
Director Julian Schnabel and screenwriter Ronald Harwood have performed a small miracle in adapting for the screen Jean-Dominique Bauby's autobiography The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. show more

See all critic reviews on metacritic.com

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