Julian Schnabel's The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is a remarkably moving piece. It details the true story of Elle editor Jean-Dominique Bauby, who suffered a stroke at 42 that resulted in locked-in syndrome. Fully conscious but only able to blink his left eye, he dictated a book that forms the basis for this movie.The acting by all parties was stellar. The emotions Bauby goes through during the movie are fully realized, even though most of the movie is shown in first-person view and he cannot move or talk. Schnabel uses internal monologue to depict grief, anger, and even happiness at times. Though a somewhat depressing topic by nature, the consistent humor helps evolve Bauby's character and generate empathy. The cinematography was consistently crisp and beautiful and the editing allowed for a precise and measured pacing of events. The script was phenomenal as well, extremely touching and poignant.
However, there were some things about the movie I didn't really like. For example, there were a lot of random shots of nature. Though evocative, it made the movie seem more like a creative endeavor than a story about a man's incredible journey dealing with a terrible disease and for some reason I feel it does less justice to his struggle. Additionally, being told mostly in first-person made some parts both tedious and annoying. We were forced to go through the same things he went through, which can be quite taxing on an audience. (I was not a big fan of him waking up slightly drugged up.) Though it probably took him a lot longer than two minutes to form a sentence, having it exist as two minutes of the movie created boredom and disinterest in the audience instead of the frustration he must have experienced by being unable to speak. While I commend the idea of putting us in his shoes, I don't think it translated as well from concept to execution. Still, despite these minor hang-ups, the film is exceptional and well worth watching.
IMDb link: http://imdb.com/title/tt0401383/