12 June 2008

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (Le Scaphandre et le papillon)


I watched this on DVD tonight after missing it in the cinemas earlier this year. This film chronicled the life and experience of the French editor of ELLE who was paralysed after a massive stroke. His struggle and his coming to terms with his condition were at times moving and at times detached. 6.5/10.

5 comments:

.::: .: :.:. :.: ... ::: :. .::. .: :. ::. said...

man! 6.5?!?!?!

Anonymous said...

Oh I miss that too. I think I may like it. I am such a big fan of foreign films.

Chuang Shyue Chou said...

Little Fish, I must admit that this was tempered by my tiredness at the end of a long day. I guess the effect of the flickering of the eyelid and the reading of the letters felt tedious and had irritated me, leaving me detached.

Nevertheless, it is an excellent film with depth and compassion. The depiction of the human condition is surely masterly.

Isn't 6.5 high? I always did find ratings of 9/10, 10/10 to be ridiculous. On a bell curve, most films would be 5/10? I think 5/10 is average and 6.5/10 is above average?

Chuang Shyue Chou said...

Wilfrid, I think it is a worthwhile watch. Don't miss it.

I am thinking of picking up Fellini's 'Roma'.

Are you going for the Michelangelo Antonioni retrospective?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelangelo_Antonioni

I watched the "L'avventura" (The Adventure, 1960) some years ago and I hated it. I thought it was overrated.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%27avventura

Anonymous said...

I loved "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly", but the movie I'd rather see is "My Stroke of Insight", which is the amazing bestselling book by Dr Jill Bolte Taylor. It is an incredible story and there's a happy ending. She was a 37 year old Harvard brain scientist who had a stroke in the left half of her brain. The story is about how she fully recovered, what she learned and experienced, and it teaches a lot about how to live a better life. Her TEDTalk at TED dot com is fantastic too. It's been spread online millions of times and you'll see why!