Art Film

 

Out of all the art films, our group decided to watch The Diving Bell and The Butterfly (2007). This is a true story based on Elle editor Jean-Dominique Bauby who suffers a sudden stroke in a rare condition called "locked-in syndrome" (LIS). He has lost virtually almost all physical control, except his left eyelid. Although he was not able to write or speak, his mind was intact enough to reflect his condition and excursions into the realms of his memory, imagination, and dreams into a book. I was truly inspired by Bauby’s patience, that he could composed each passage letter by letter, to an amanuensis who was also patience enough to recited a frequency-ordered alphabet for Bauby to choose by blinking his left eyelid once to signify "yes." Leading me to a question, who would have this patience to spend almost 2 years to compose a novel letter by letter when he or she has become paralyze except blinking with one eyelid. Now that I am looking at Bauby’s success on his novel, it influence me to remember even though thing doesn’t go in my own way, if I just have the patience like Bauby and the amanuensis then everything will be solved.

Through our group discussion, we thought that the way that the movie is filmed is very unique. The camera angle is filmed though Bauby’s left eye perspective, we thought the technique that the director chose was very creative, because it now not only gave the viewer a stronger sense on how Bauby now see the world after the stroke, but also made us fall into Bauby’s role just like we had become Bauby, so we are able to become more in-depth as the movie is playing. Overall, I thought the movie was very interesting since it is based on a true story. I thought it was very sad that Bauby has only survived just long enough to see his novel published in the spring of 1997, but I am glad that he was able to finish so we are able to see his success and influence by his patience.