Le Scaphandre et le papillon (2007) - film review

Chief editor of the fashion magazine Elle and father of two children, Jean-Dominique Bauby is a man to whom life could not have been kinder.  Then, at the age of 43, he has a stroke and his world is changed forever.  When he regains consciousness from a deep coma, he finds he is in hospital, paralysed and unable to speak.  The only part of his body he can move is his left eye, and the only way he can communicate with others is by blinking – one blink for yes, two blinks for no.  His body may be incapacitated, but his memory is intact and his imagination is as free as a butterfly.   Encouraged by his carers, Jean-Dominique decides to dictate a book which recounts his experiences...

Le Scaphandre et le papillon is a film which, if it doesn’t radically change your view of life, will certainly leave a lasting impression.  The film recounts, with great finesse and technical flair, the real-life experiences of Jean-Dominique Bauby, a prominent French journalist who was renowned for his hedonistic lifestyle before he suffered a crippling cardiovascular seizure.  The film could so easily have been an overcooked weepy melodrama or a moralistic tirade at Bauby’s expense, but fortunately it is neither of these.  Instead, what Julian Schnabel gives us in his third and best film to date is a highly poignant drama that demonstrates the resilience of the human spirit in the face of adversity.

The film’s beginning is both shocking and attention-grabbing, skilfully employing the approach of the internal monologue and subjective (first-person) viewpoint to show us the world as perceived by Bauby when he awakes from his coma.   This is not the first film to use this technique - Pierre-Paul Renders used it successfully in his ground-breaking 2000 film Thomas est amoureux – but it is particularly appropriate for this film, since it gives the audience some sense of the terrifying imprisonment felt by someone in Bauby’s position.  Although the film does switch to a more conventional (third person) approach later on, it does return periodically to the first person perspective so that we never lose sight of what it must feel like to be reduced to the state of an active consciousness in an immobile body.  The film invites us to ponder on whether such a life is worth having, whether anyone should be subjected to the kind of living death in which Bauby spent the last phase of his life.  

Whilst some may cringe at some of the film’s simplistic poetic imagery, Le Scaphandre et le papillon is a deeply engaging, beautifully composed film that scores very highly in many departments.   Mathieu Amalric won the Best Actor César in 2008 for his portrayal of Bauby, which achieves a high degree of pathos with minimal effort.  The strong supporting cast includes Max von Sydow, the star of many an Ingmar Bergman film; he gives a moving performance as Bauby’s father, whose own imprisonment - more psychological than physical - tragically parallels that of Bauby.   Schnabel’s direction is restrained but highly effective, meriting the award the director received at Cannes in 2008.  A remarkable film, which may well emerge as the best French film of the decade.

© James Travers 2008

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