Film analysis paper: THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY Julian Schnabel 2007
Story outline in brief A man awakens after a coma to find he has had a stroke and is alive due to an unusual condition known as ‘locked-in syndrome’. He has lost control of his entire body, save the movement of one eye, his ability to hear, and his mental faculties. Before the stroke he was the editor of a high-profile fashion magazine based in Paris, and preparing to write a modern version of an 19th century classical tale. He was in the prime of his life. Now, he is reduced to a helpless and vegetating individual in a wheelchair. The film follows his journey from remorse over his condition, to the acquisition of a new form communication: with the help of a speech therapist he learns to blink when a spoken letter of the alphabet is uttered. This makes it possible for him to write the book he has always wanted to write, and this is his final product before death.
Imagery The helplessness of the main character is brought into view by a series of scenes which have a locked p.ov. (point of view) namely, within the character himself. You see the world as he sees it, and you feel his desperation and helplessness as his vision adjusts and focusses; as he is surveyed by professionals, met by family and friends, and wheeled around. This process of adjustment and realisation is intensified by a soft-spoken narrative by the victim himself, making painfully clear that his predicament is entirely physical: he is fully rational.
Various characters blend in to his field of vision that are fully aware of this need, and they attend to him appropriately. It would not be coincidental that they are all beautiful young professionals who sincerely endeavour to help him recover, or at least help him live in dignity. A spot of dry humour rendered in ‘thought-narrative’ – about his bad luck of not having met these ladies under better circumstances – lifts the film onto a new level, as you realise that his surrender to the fact of his paralysis will create a platform for a yet unknown form of personal progression.
Gradually, the p.o.v. shifts from solely within the main character, to the occasional shot as seen from the outside world, and the audience is able to slowly make the shocking acquaintance of his appearance, as seen by others and by himself when he passes by glass panels. This p.o.v. increases as the film progresses. A contrast is made when the flashback scenes reveal the way he was before.
Use of surrealism/symbolism/dreams/imaginations/fantasies/flashbacks/memories Flashbacks: To further augment the personal tragedy of this man, the film regularly uses flashbacks, in which you see how life was before the stroke – hip, modern and fast. One becomes acquainted with a smart and attractive man, in the prime of his life; one meets his various lovers, his children, his father and ex-wife.
Fantasies: fantasies of skiing and the company of women; of wonderful imaginary feasts – help him to retain his original pre-stroke character, and you witness his struggle to stay real to himself.
Dream sequences suggest that he fosters feelings of guilt and longing. Combined with the regularly returning narrative, these sequences help to portray a character truly locked within a fully functioning mental capacity, capable of regret.
Surrealism is applied to a scene in which he receives medical treatment in a broken down museum or palace interior; this suggests the absurdity of the quality of his physical life in contrast to the great mental leaps he can take.
Symbolism: Possibly the most important and powerful imaginary scene of the film is that of a diver in an old-fashioned diving suit, equipped with a “diving bell” (hence the title) – which is a kind of metal helmet with round glass panels on three sides. The diver-image is clearly our main character’s strongest self-portrayal. He sees himself suspended under water, attached to a life-line of oxygen, unable to move. This is also a re-occurring theme throughout the film.
Further images include a butterfly emerging from a cocoon, symbolic of his own awakening and acceptance of his state. In that scene an important breakthrough is portrayed: that of a man who makes the decision to abandon self-pity, and allow himself to grow the spiritual wings of a butterfly – for lack of choice he does not fight his fate, and resolves to make use of these wings to keep his spirit alive.
Music The music used in the film covers a wide range of styles. This starts with chansons, which are characteristically light and sweet and have a slightly melo-dramatic quality. Classical music, modern electronic hip-hop fragments, something that sounded like U2, and ballads that remind of Tom Waits are also appropriately used to create strong atmosphere in various scenes.
Relationship between storyline and imagery The images used to portray this tale of personal tragedy are powerful and provocative. The slow shift in point of view from within the victim to gradually include the outside world skilfully binds the viewer to the main character – a bond essential to fully convey the total spectrum of his predicament. A key element in the success of this film is the combination of the very careful and gradual unfolding of the main-character – by means of the quality of his private thought-narrative, revealing his humour and desires – and the re-occurring flashback images of the world he came from. This is crowned by the tenderness shown in the people who visit and take care of him; this tenderness, respect and care form an essential element in evoking fully fledged emotions in the audience. This overal combination is very successful; the result is convincing, intelligent, and covers enormous depth in emotional field.
My personal interpretation of the film ‘the diving bell and the butterfly’ directed by Julian Schnabel in 2007. Initially the real-life drama of a man struck by full paralysis after a stroke, who then sets out to write a book by dictating the words by means of blinking his only functioning eyelid, makes for apprehensive watching. I had a sharp reminder that cinema is not just about entertainment of the light and waltzy kind. But, considering the bleak subject matter, this story manages to stay enormously brave, and slowly releases the inner world of thought and spirit of a prisoner inside his own body. The content of the man’s manuscript may have been vital to portray his inner world to an audience, but it would not have been sufficient in itself without such an exceptional scenario and execution.
Gradually, as if I were being led by the hand, the series of scenes transported me into a field of emotion in which I felt quite vulnerable and yet very safe, at the same time. And so, I was filled with deep feelings of sadness and happiness and everything in between, for a man I never knew had existed; his story and the way it was told, really reached me. But the story by itself, even the book that he wrote, would never have reached the large audience that the film does. This, in my opinion, is due to strong imagery, splendid use of various forms of footage, memory scenes, and surrealism, and most of all: great, great acting on part of each and every player in this drama.
The tenderness of all female players is a prominent feature: they are so convincing in their compassion for him; they are his butterflies, fussing over him in every way they can, so aware of his captivity. They love him, each and every one of them – save one, save the one who phones and merely says she loves him – she is the only one who doesn’t, she just thinks about her own loss.
Love is the central theme in this film, in my opinion. The love of all those around him is confirmed from scene to scene. The young lady who takes his dictation declares her love for him when they are on the beach, and she says: it is fine if he takes her to the bottom of the ocean, attached to his diving suit, because he was also her butterfly.
Religion as a theme: many of the ladies wear crosses around their neck. There is talk of prayer; there are two variant angels on the pilgrim site of Lourdes; many people are praying for his recovery. Religion plays a central role. However, in the scene when he goes to Lourdes with his girlfriend, and she insists on a statue of the Madonna, it is clear that he himself is not particularly religious, and religion is drawn into absurdity.
Thus, love and religion as themes can be joined together here by the reoccurring theme of acceptance: acceptance of other people’s approach to convalescence, acceptance of one’s own predicament. There is also acceptance in the wife/mother of the children for his choice to leave her and be with someone else. No acceptance is made easily; but they are present.
Bravery is the backbone of the film. I came away with a fresh sense of ‘pulling myself together’. A certain quality of humour, perhaps the only kind available in such a predicament, is definitely present, which I encountered just where I least expected it, and which has everything to do with bravery.
Finally, before death, the stroke-victim succeeds in producing the book he wanted to write. Instead of vegetating in a state of deliverance, a most unlikely author makes a debut; and reveals his inner world. But now, the theme and deliberation of the book has changed. To his father he had said it was to be a modern version of “The Count of Monte Christo”, which is about revenge. I believe the spirit of revenge had left him by then. His work was to be his own, and no adaptation of someone else’s. And it’s not even a melodramatic ending.
ACN