Mathieu Almaric (in the background) plays French editor Jean-Dominique Bauby in Julian Schnabel’s ''The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.''

By Bob Polunsky
Movie Critic

“The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” seems too fantastic to be true, but Elle Fashion Magazine editor Jean-Dominique Bauby’s real-life autobiography is the basis for it.

He had a stroke at the age of 43 that paralyzed him. But he found a way to write his story and make it a testament to life. He dictated the book to his therapist by blinking his eye when she recited the alphabet and came to a letter he needed for a word in his book. That book is the inspiration for the current film. 
Julian Schnabel’s imaginative direction lets us see everything on the screen as if we were seeing them through Bauby’s eyes.  French actor Mathieu Amalric (already tapped as the villain in the next James Bond film) responds with sensitivity that involves the audience emotionally.

Bauby likened his life to being stuffed into a diving bell when he suffered the stroke. Thanks to the devotion and attention from the women in his life who rush to help him, he learns to enjoy life again, comparing it to the freedom of a butterfly that flits through the air. 
Besides his paralysis, he has locked-in syndrome, a disease that leaves only his eyes, ears and brain intact. The rest of his body is useless, but his memory works well enough to re-capture old feelings and enjoy them again.

The doctor sews up one eye to prevent an infection, so Bauby relies on his other eye, keeping his stamina, courage and perseverance intact and keeping the audience emotionally involved. The blurry scenes of hospital room activity look like they could be the first things a baby sees when born, thereby setting a tone for the film.

We hear his therapist guide him as he learns to communicate his ideas by blinking his uncovered eye. Another therapist takes over when he decides to dictate his autobiography to explain and describe his life after his stroke. He also reminisces about his active social life before the stroke and thinks about the women who stayed devoted to him. Their attention gives him confidence, and he realizes self-pity doesn’t have to be part of his new life. 

Thanks to Schnabel’s guiding hand and Amalric’s responsive performance, the movie is in the same class as “My Left Foot,” the story of Christy Brown’s conquest of cerebral palsy; “The Elephant Man,” the story of deformed John Merrick’s response to kindness after a life of ridicule and “The Miracle Worker,” the story of Helen Keller’s conquest of blindness and deafness. All were true stories about people who didn’t let Fate control their lives. They found a way to stay in control instead.

Studio rating: PG-13
Bob says: “Don’t miss this one!” 
4 stars ****
          
CUTLINE:
1 -- Anne Cosigny is the therapist and Mathieu Amalric the paralyzed patient in “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.”

2 -- Mathieu Almaric (in the background) plays French editor Jean-Dominique Bauby in Julian Schnabel’s “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.”