A memoir of life in death. Review on The Diving Bell And The Butterfly Movie

Author and neurologist Dr. Oliver Sacks said: ‘It’s a book of surpassing beauty, a testament to the freedom and vitality and delight of the human mind.’The New York Times called it ‘a wistful, poetic and whimsically affirmative statement. .’The Financial Times felt that it is ‘one of the greatest books of the century.’ ‘The sentences soar….Lyrical chapters begin to resemble the beatings of wings’, declaredThe New Yorker. Other critics were equally acclamatory with such words as ‘the remarkable memoir of our time – perhaps of any time’(Novelist/Writer Cynthia Ozick), ‘shattering eloquence….’(Miami Herald), ‘To read this most extraordinary of narratives is to discover luminosity within a man’s mind’(Author/Surgeon Sherwin Nuland, who is also professor of clinical surgery at Yale), ‘mesmerizing.’(Newsweek), ‘read this book and fall back in love with life.’(Author/critic Edmund White, who also teaches creative writing at Princeton).

Under ordinary circumstances when a book receives such compliments as above, one would have reacted without much ado, and congratulated the author with ‘hey, good for you, keep it up.’ But the memoir behind those accolades is not an instance of someone just compiling his thoughts at the end of a career or assignment, or in retirement. ‘The Diving Bell and The Butterfly’(originally, ‘Le Scaphandre et le Papillon, in French) is an awe-inspiring act of defiance against disability and death by, editor-in-chief of French fashion magazine Elle, Jean-Dominique Bauby, who at age 43(December, 1995), when rendered completely and permanently paralyzed by a ‘massive stroke’, had fought on and penned an entire book of his memoirs, leveraging the one and only means of communication at his disposal – the ability to blink his left eye. Bauby passed away in March 1997, just two days after the French publication of his book.

A ‘massive stroke’ damages the brain stem and disconnects the spinal cord from the brain. The result of this cerebrovascular accident is a condition called the ‘locked-in syndrome’ where the patient is paralyzed from head to toe but has an active mind that is aware of the surroundings but doesn’t have the benefit of such faculties as speech and movement. In Bauby’s case the movement of his left eyelid was the only ability his cruel indisposition left him with. Undaunted by the inert and imprisoned condition of his body, which he likens to the diving bell(a large bell-shaped vessel used for underwater work, open at the bottom and supplied with compressed air), Bauby liberates the writer in him to roam as a butterfly through his 130+ page memoir to be as gregarious(‘my roving mind was busy with a thousand projects; a novel, travel, a play, marketing a fruit-cocktail of my own invention’), witty(‘until now, I have never even heard of the brain stem’), mischievous(‘.but this man – who spent days peering into people’s pupils – was apparently unable to interpret a simple look’), stoic(‘Armed with a cup of tea or Scotch, a good book or a pile of newspapers, I would soak for hours…Rarely do I feel my condition so cruelly as when I am recalling such pleasures…Luckily, I have no time for such gloomy thoughts’), and sarcastic(‘people simply died after a ‘massive stroke’, but improved resuscitation techniques have now prolonged and refined the agony’) as he normally was. Thanks to a transcription system developed with the help of a speech therapist and his transcriber Claude Mendibil(Anne Cosigny), Bauby and his helpers repeatedly, for each selection of his next letter, use French language frequency-ordered alphabet(E, S, A, R, I, N, T, U, L, etc.), until he can select the letter of his choice by blinking once(to indicate ‘yes’). He blinks twice to indicate ‘no’.

As one reads the book, one will realize that the critics aren’t merely applauding the heroic fight of a departed soul, when one starts listening to the sound of Bauby’s voice as it comes alive, marked for its candor and courage than emotion and self pity. Page after page, we get to absorb a set of honest observations - all in celebration of life. We don’t hear the thoughts of a dying man; we only hear the ruminations of a pragmatist, who is handling a catastrophe with equanimity and hope. Translator Leggatt very aptly calls his work ‘A memoir of life in death’.

As for the movie, it has won similar acclaim, winning many international awards including Golden Globe, Cannes etc, apart from being nominated for 2007 Oscars for best director, adapted screenplay, cinematography, and editing. The adapted screenplay deviates a bit from the book and the real-life story of Bauby to add some minor dramatic effects, for which it got some criticism, but those changes are very harmless to the central theme and appeal of its inspiring story. The movie uses very inventive techniques of cinematography to ‘visualize’ the book and to help us see the world from Bauby’s viewpoint as a paraplegic – as someone stuck inside the diving bell and as a butterfly. The scenes involving Bauby’s visit to the Beach Club with his family, his ‘Hangman’ word games with his son, his meeting with his Dad, and his many sessions of transcription are all very moving.

Actor Mathieu Amalric, who plays the forgettable villain in the awful 007 action adventure ‘Quantum of Solace’, here plays the role of Bauby with great sincerity and realism. Anne Consigny's kind demeanor in taking care of Bauby has its own inspirational value in terms of taking care of the helpless and the disabled. Director Julian Schnabel employs flashbacks and dream sequences effectively to adapt and to enhance the subject matter of the book. Janusz Kaminski, cinematographer of many of Steven Spielberg’s movies, brings in just the right kind of innovation to this relatively simple subject. It’s a French movie with English sub-titles.