Image from: http://movies.about.com/od/divingbellandbutterfly/ig/Diving-Bell-and-Butterfly-Pics/divingbellbutterflypic4.htmThe Diving Bell and The Butterfly is based on the true story of French Elle Magazine editor Jean-Dominique Bauby. Bauby has suffered a stroke and is completely paralyzed except for his one eye. His mind, hearing and sight are still functional, but he feels trapped in his body or his "diving bell." After he regains his will to live, he writes a book by communicating through blinks.
The film sucessfully tells the story from Bauby's perspective by allowing the viewer to know what he is thinking and often using camera shots filmed from his perspective. This helps the viewer to better understand what Bauby is experiencing which ivites the viewer to take part in the film. The film grabs your attention right away by showing a blurry screen that slowly comes into focus as Bauby blinks. The film however, does not stick with showing the film from his perspective. This might have some deeper meaning, but I think it would have been better to stick with showing it all from his perspective because that is what made it easy to understand how Bauby felt and gave the film a unique aspect.
Even though I had to read all of the dialouge through subtitles, I forgot I was reading the subtitles after a while because I became full ingulfed in the film. I also think the flashbacks were very effective in helping the viewer get to know Bauby, but I do think it would have been benificial to include a few more flashbacks especially ones that better explained his relationship with the mother of his children.
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