So this movie is about a guy, Jean-Dominique Bauby, who suffers a massive stroke and becomes completely paralyzed except for his right eye. Before the accident, he was kind of a turd. He left his woman, neglected his kids, and even hassled his son about not having any pubic hair (really). After the stroke, he learns all kinds of life lessons, develops a communication system via blinking, and remarkably blinks out his memoirs, but is still kind of a turd. The mother of his children visits him constantly, takes him on outings, helps take the dictation for his book, forgives him in general, and treats him with amazing kindness and grace, but he still just wants to see his mistress. So I guess it’s a very French movie.
The camera work is gorgeous. I had a teacher once tell me that a really great filmmaker makes movies where any freeze frame looks like a composed photograph, and TDB&TB is like that. The first half hour or so is shot almost exclusively from the perspective of Jean-Dominique’s non-paralyzed eye. There’s one shot where he watches his own eye get sewn shut, so an ulcer can heal, or something. Pretty cool. The music is great too, featuring “La Mer” (the beautiful French song, which is the source material for Bobby Darin’s “Beyond the Sea), and a couple of Tom Waits songs, including the incredible “Green Grass.”
As far as the movie goes, I guess I had high expectations. The film’s official site quoted all these intense reactions from reviewers, saying things about how this movie will change your life and completely revolutionize your perspective, etc. And don’t get me wrong–the movie was excellent, about as good as they get. In the end, though, it mostly just reminded me that, as good as movies can be, they don’t heal your relationships for you, and they haven’t cured any diseases. And that, my friends, is the paradox inherent to the moviegoer lifestyle: as much as the best movies make you want to get off your ass and do something incredible with your life, they also make you want to watch more movies, which really isn’t that incredible of an endeavor (although the essential basis of this very superb weblog). And after all, who has time to do anything with their life when there are so many movies left to see?
3 responses so far ↓
Chip Kincaid // May 20, 2008 at 12:00 pm |
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Charles Goldman // May 26, 2008 at 8:29 am |
The tag for this post came up, so I will comment. I, too, blogged about this movie (and others). I agree it is good, and yet does not solve any life problems. Jerks get sick, can be courageous, then die. What struck me is how certain films (e.g., about death and dying) have more impact as a group than individually. See my posts on May 23 and May 25. I would be interested in your thoughts.
Chip Kincaid // May 26, 2008 at 10:36 am |
I definitely agree that movies as a group appear to have a greater effect on my life than any individual film. A quick example: the other day (and I should probably blog about this) I watched Dave Chappelle’s Block Party and Bulworth in the same day (both available for free on Hulu). They both deal with the issue of race in distinctly different ways, but each filed a part of itself away in the part of me that is aware of race and reacts to it. The ideas the two films generate are much more powerful when combined with each other, and all the other truths I’ve discovered in my life about racial issues.
The problem with The Diving Bell and the Butterfly isn’t with its ability to contribute, but perhaps in the way many reviewers seem to expect it to contribute on its own, something that no work of art should be expected to do.