![](\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2007\/11\/29\/movies\/30diving-600.jpg\")
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is a must see French film that immerses the audience into the tragic story of former Elle magazine editor, Jean-Dominique Bauby. After having seen the film in the brand new Santa Barbara International Film Festival Center, I saw up close the care and intention that made this film so captivating\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The film, directed by Julian Schnabel, stars Mathieu Amalric, Emmanuelle Seigner, Marie Jos\u00e9e Croze, and Anne Consigny. The film opens through the blurred eyes of our main protagonist as he looks around a hospital room, disoriented. It is revealed that this man, Bauby, suffered a severe stroke that left him completely paralyzed. His left eye being the only part of his body left able to communicate with the world. He is a man who has been stripped of nearly every aspect of his autonomy and livelihood. As this reality sets in the film follows his journey to learning how to communicate with the help of his speech therapist, and eventually tell his story. Along the way the film plays his inner monologue in which he battles with himself and faces the man he once was in order to come to terms with the life in front of him. He sees his life as being stuck on a diving bell, with the only solution being to become a butterfly. The message to expand the universe that is the mind allows him to try and go on living.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In the film there is a beautiful scene in which Bauby realizes the power and creativity of his imagination and a montage plays of the beautiful places he pictures himself going to. There is heavy imagery of flowers and nature which speaks to his creativity blooming as he allows his fantasies to overtake him.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Another scene in which Bauby is on the phone with his father, there is an intense vulnerability conveyed within the scene. As Bauby\u2019s father tries to connect with his child he is simply too devastated to fathom the fact that his son as he knew him will never be able to be with him. He breaks down and weeps despite his son\u2019s request for him not to cry. In this moment you see a father crying out and mourning their child who has not yet passed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Films that come into mind after watching this film include The Fault in Our Stars and Soul Surfer. While I would not compare these films to The Diving Bell and the Butterfly purely online regards to quality, the themes of disability and illness do not go unnoticed. However, one way in which the French film does something differently is in the way the protagonist is portrayed. The protagonist’s character is not simply virtuous before or after the stroke, but rather he remains human throughout the entire film and acknowledges and accepts his faults. This leading man, Mathieu Amalric, breathes life into the character. Amalric notably was also in the films Munich and the Grand Budapest Hotel. Director Julian Schnabel, is known for this film as well as his other films such as, Before Night Falls, Basquiat, and his most recent film coming out titled, In the Hand of Dante.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is a visually stunning film in which the audience is invited to join in the uncomfortable journey with a man going to the crucible of one of life\u2019s greatest obstacles. I would highly recommend this film to anyone interested in human stories. The film truly is art in motion.<\/span><\/p>\n Reviewed by Alexis Renteria. Viewed at SBIFF The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is a must see French film that immerses the audience into the tragic story of former Elle magazine editor, Jean-Dominique Bauby. After having seen the film in the brand new Santa Barbara International Film Festival Center, I saw up close the care […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":249151,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,441],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-films","category-santa-barbara-film-festival-2026"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/249151"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=48812"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48812\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49071,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48812\/revisions\/49071"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=48812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=48812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=48812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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