Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.0

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov April 18, 2011

Winner of Best Director Award at the Cannes Film Festival, Julian Schnabel's "Le scaphandre et le papillon" a.k.a. "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" (2007) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Canadian distributors Alliance. The supplemental features on the disc include an audio commentary by director Julian Schnabel; making of featurette; interview with director Julian Schnabel; and behind the scenes featurette. In French, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

So, I can see...

Julian Schnabel’s The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is an enormously powerful film about a man trapped between life and death - he could hear and see but cannot speak and move. Remarkably, with the assistance of a transcriber, he was able to describe how he felt in a book that became an international bestseller in Europe. Schnabel’s film is based on the book.

The man was 43-year old Jean-Dominique Bauby (Mathieu Amalric, Alice et Martin, Rois et reine), the enigmatic editor of the popular French Elle, who suffered a massive stroke while driving his brand new convertible. The doctors saved Bauby, but he developed "locked-in" syndrome - a very rare condition in which with the exception of the eyes all voluntary muscles of the human body are completely paralyzed.

A speech therapist (Marie-Josée Croze, Ne le dis à personne, Deux jours à tuer) developed a system that allowed Bauby to communicate with the people around him - she would cite the letters of the French alphabet and Bauby would blink his only healthy eye; one blink for "yes" and two for "no".

To numb the emotional pain, Bauby also invented a world where he could spend time with his family and friends, work, make love, and drive his favorite car - it was his asylum, a place that helped him remain sane. He felt good there, safe and truly alive.

In the real world, Bauby was often visited by his former wife, Celine (Emmanuelle Seigner, La môme, Le code a changé). The two had long "conversations" about the past, the good and the bad they shared. Celine also helped Bauby "talk" on the phone to one of his lovers, a woman who did not have the courage to visit him in the hospital after she found out what had happened to him. (In the film, she says that she simply wanted to remember Bauby as she knew him - a healthy man). Occasionally, Bauby also "talked" to his father (Max von Sydow, 3 Days of the Condor).

The film is formally divided into two halves. In the first, Bauby realizes that he is a prisoner in his own body and powerful fear overwhelms him. Everything that he sees is what we see - thanks to Schnabel and veteran cinematographer Janusz Kaminski’s truly groundbreaking camerawork and effects. In the second half, Bauby spends plenty of time in his imaginary world. Eventually, he begins "writing" his book.

The film is beautiful but absolutely terrifying. It goes to a place that no one wants to visit. Sounds are different there and silence is unbearable, time is absolutely irrelevant. It is a lonely, sad, incredibly depressing place.

The cast is truly outstanding. Amalric, an incredibly gifted French actor, is superb as the paralyzed Bauby. His monologues early into the film are fantastic. Croze and especially Seigner also deliver incredibly nuanced performances. The legendary von Sydow is also excellent.

Note: in 2007, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly won Best Director Award and Technical Grand Prize (Janusz Kaminski) at the Cannes Film Festival. During the same year, the film also won the Audience Award at the San Sebastian International Film Festival.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Julian Schnabel's The Diving Bell and the Butterfly arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Canadian distributors Alliance.

Despite the various stylistic modifications, most notably contrast and clarity adjustments that create the notion that the audience sees the world as Jean-Dominique Bauby does, detail is indeed dramatically improved. On the R1 SDVD of the film, which Miramax released in the United States quite some time ago, the various close-ups are plagued by a heavy amount of noise, and when the camera zooms often times there is heavy smearing. Here, these close-ups look mostly soft, but there is plenty of detail. The "blurry vision" is also better reproduced (see screencapture #3). Some of the panoramic vistas from the beach, however, convey light to moderate amounts of edge-enhancement. However, because of cinematographer Janusz Kaminski's preference for colors that literally begin to break down as Bauby wanders between the real world and the imaginary world he has created for himself, the visuals are never distracting. Additionally, there are various minor grain corrections, but the integrity of the film is very much intact. Lastly, my R1 SDVD suffers from a great deal of flicker and random color pulsations; here they are nowhere to be seen. All in all, this is a pleasing Blu-ray release of a remarkably powerful film. (Note: This is a Region-A Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two audio tracks on this Blu-ray disc: French DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and French Dolby Digital 5.1. For the record, Alliance have provided optional English subtitles for the main feature.

In my opinion, the French DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track alone is a good enough reason to strongly recommend this Blu-ray release of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. The wonderful piano theme, for instance, sounds quite incredible now. Additionally, when you listen to Paul Cantelon's beautiful soundtrack, you will hear a variety of nuanced dynamics which the French Dolby Digital 5.1 track simply cannot reproduce. Because of them, key scenes in the entire film are a lot more effective. The dialog is crisp, clean, stable, and very easy to follow. I did not detect any disturbing pops, cracks, hissings or audio dropouts to report in this review. For the record, unlike the R1 SDVD, which has very large yellow optional English subtitles, the Alliance Blu-ray release has white optional English subtitles.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Submerged: The Making of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly - a standard featurette with raw footage from the shooting of the film and comments from various cast and crew members. Director Julian Schnabel also explains why he wanted to shoot the film in French. In English, with imposed English subtitles. (13 min, 480/60i).

• A Cinematic Vision - director Julian Schnabel and cinematographer Janusz Kaminski discuss the different filming techniques used in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. In English, with imposed English subtitles. (8 min, 480/60i).

• Interview - Charlie Rose interviews director Julian Schnabel. In English, with imposed English subtitles. (21 min, 480/60i).

• Audio Commentary - this is the same audio commentary by director Julian Schnabel that also appears on the old R1 SDVD Miramax produced in the United States. In English, with optional French subtitles.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is a beautiful, profoundly moving film. If for some strange reason you have not seen it yet, I urge you to do so as soon as possible. The Alliance Blu-ray release represents a solid upgrade over the old R1 SDVD Miramax produced in the United States quite some time ago. In my opinion, the loseless track alone is a good enough reason to enthusiastically recommend it. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.