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The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007)
Runtime: 1 hr 52 mins
Genre: Foreign Films
Starring: Mathieu Amalric, Emmanuelle Seigner, Marie-Josee Croze, Anne Consigny, Patrick Chesnais
Screenwriter: Ronald Harwood
Producer: Kathleen Kennedy, Jon Kilik
Composer: Paul Cantelon
DVD Info
Release:
May 4, 2010
DVD Features:
- Region 1
- Keep Case
- Anamorphic Widescreen - 1.85
Audio:
- Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround - English, French, Spanish
- Dolby Digital Surround - French
- Subtitles - French, Spanish - Optional
Additional Release Material:
- Audio Commentary - Julian Schnabel - Director
- Featurette - 1. SUBMERGED: A Look Inside THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY
- 2. A CINEMATIC VISION
- Interview - Charlie Rose Interviews with Julian Schnabel
Reviews
An astonishing, deeply moving film, Schnabel's third film is also his masterpiece, thanks to extraordinary direction, stunning camerawork, a terrific script and an Oscar-worthy central performance from Amalric.
Delves into the horrific destiny and triumphant creative, if not physical struggle of this French celebrity, whose stroke left him completely paralyzed save for interior silent monologues, and the furiously blinking eye of this ill-fated ravaged cyclops.
The camera techniques used actually give the audience just a hint of what it must be like to live with a fully aware mind, and one working eye.
[A]s intellectually gripping as it is emotionally compelling...
Screenwriter Ronald Harwood turns this first person novel into an intensely first person movie. There are times when it seems impossible that a camera could even be present, the surroundings are so perfectly interior to a man. Amazing.
While the result is a stirring homage to the power of imagination, memory and the human spirit, it is also an insightful approximation of the creative process itself.
Lingers long after the lights come up. We can be grateful that films of quiet, unique beauty continue to be made.
In spite of the rawness the film's subject, Schnabel wisely didn't create a weepy--far from it. This is a film about a flawed womanizer with little time for his children who comes to face himself by the vehicle of his own memoir.
Taking us from great depths to ethereal heights, this extraordinary true story is an inspiring reinforcement of inextinguishable inner strength and determination in the face of unimaginable adversity
... it is infused with Bauby's sarcastic sense of humor and engages us with questions of what makes a life worth living.
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly transcends the uplifting movie-of-the-week story through Schnabel's artful direction and deep empathy.
The unique POV is not a gimmicky technique but a transferring of creative responsibility.
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is...a sensational cinematic canvas created by a man who understands the inherent beauty in form, function, and now filmmaking.
One of the most challenging films in the recent memory...However, it's definitely worth it to stick with the film.
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The Diving Bell and the Butterfly at IGN
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