Friday, September 12, 2008

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly


Have any of you seen this movie??
It is really a different movie, very artsy. I had heard mention of this movie a few times, so I figured I would give it a try. With Christopher and Steven gone, I was free to watch something a little off center.
It surprised me in how much I liked it.
It is a true story. It is about a big time editor of a French Magazine, Elle. He has 3 children, an ex-wife and a current girlfriend. At 43, (in 1995) he has a massive stroke and he gets a syndrome called locked-in. The only thing he can move is his left eye.
The movie opens and we, the audience, only can few through his left eye, from his perspective. Very interesting! Just think about acting to the camera like all the people had to do. They were great.
One of my most favorite lines in the movie: "I realized that I had 2 things that were not paralyzed besides my eye; my imagination and my memory". He CHOSE to move forward, find some positive in such a difficult situation. Amazing.
He has a speech therapist who helps him learn to communicate by blinking his eye at the correct letter of the word he wants to spell. In this manner he wrote his book, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. He died 10 days after the book was published, in 1997.

2 comments:

Nana said...

Sounds like a good movie. I wonder if I could sit through it.

Candice said...

I did see this movie, Julie. And Gil and I groaned every time he started to say something. It took soooooo long. However, it was an amazing story. But, I thought, very sad in the end for the wife who still loved him, but he loved the girlfriend instead. It seemed like everyone loved him! I'm glad I saw it, but I could never watch it again!!