Diving Bell and Butterflies

Patsy 2021-12-14 08:01:09

I found this movie in a recommendation post of a back-swing style movie. As recommended, this film is like a back-swing music. It is very emotional, and it will be a little dull at first. Once the long and monotonous prelude is passed, it will gradually usher in restlessness. Surging orgasm.

The protagonist of the film suffers from Atresia Syndrome. He is paralyzed and can only move his eyes. Although he can listen and think, how can the protagonist who cannot move promote the plot and express his emotions. Through the film lens, we can feel the same. Most of the time in this film, the first-person perspective is used. At the beginning, the lens is blurred and cannot be focused because the cornea of ​​the protagonist's right eye is ulcerated. After the right eye was sutured, the lens began to become clear. Due to the limitation of the line of sight of the left eye only, the lens field of view was also very limited and narrow. The performance of this kind of lens can bring the audience into the experience of the protagonist.

Before the protagonist was paralyzed, he was an editor of a fashion magazine. His life was colorful. Compared with him now, there is a huge gap between him. No one can accept such a change. Like a rock that is constantly collapsing, the inner world of the protagonist begins to collapse. Continuously interspersed with the shots of diving suits trapped in the water and sighing, the shots are very depressive, and also a metaphor for the protagonist's inner depression and despair, and the desire to live has been lost.

It wasn't until the visit of two friends that the protagonist's attitude began to change. The two friends can be said to be positive and negative motivations. The old man with white hair was once hijacked to a black room and locked up for four years. He persevered with his favorite things and imagined it. He used his own similar experience. Inspire the protagonist, hoping that he can stick to his dignity and live strong. And the last sentence of the protagonist’s good friend Don’t live like a vegetable seems to sting the protagonist’s sensitive nerves.

Do you stick to your dignity to live or linger like a vegetative? The protagonist struggled painfully all night, just like the moment a cicada pupa broke its cocoon, a light butterfly fluttered out, and he decided not to give up on himself.

"Except for my eyes, there are two things that are not paralyzed, my imagination, and my memory. Only imagination and memory can free me from the shackles of the diving bell."

It is not easy for ordinary people to figure out this level, and our protagonist not only figured it out, but even decided to write a book with the remaining eye. In layman's terms, we want to run without learning how to walk, and our protagonist should not talk about walking. Who can walk with his eyes? By blinking, blinking once means yes, twice means no. The assistant repeats the alphabet, the protagonist blinks to confirm each letter, and finally forms words and sentences. It's hard to imagine the amount of this project and the patience of myself and his assistants, but they did it. The protagonist gallops in his own imagination, turning all the imprisonment into an imagination to travel in the vast world of mountains and seas.

The film's performance of family affection is relatively delicate. The details of the child wiping his saliva and helping his father to shave in the memory inspire the protagonist. The protagonist feels guilty for his children, wife and father, and is happy that they are caring for them despite their paralysis. But in the area of ​​love, it is very realistic. Even if his wife (unmarried) is patiently taking care of him, his heart still chooses to never visit his lover. Maybe love is such a selfish thing. The film also has obvious shortcomings. The transition between imagination and reality is very blunt. The switching of scenes is not natural enough. Natural switching can be completed with blurry and close-range focus. However, this film did not do this, and it seems that the whole film is fragmented and not smooth. The flaws are not concealed, and perhaps the fragmented scenes are also just to show the protagonist's messy thoughts and imagination.

Every time I watch an inspirational movie like this, I think that there are such inspirational characters in the world. They only live in movies, right? Only after the end of the credits appeared, it turned out that this movie reproduced the story of former "ELLE" magazine editor and reporter Dominic Poppy. The title of the film is derived from the book Dominic wrote with his left eye when he suffered from "locked-in syndrome". He passed away ten days after the book was published.

In reality, there are indeed such powerful characters. They rely on extraordinary willpower to create miracles, just like a butterfly's life is short, but it leaves a beautiful mark in a corner of the world. Isn't such a life a kind of life? whole. After watching the movie, it is necessary to read the original work. After all, it is a miracle of writing with one eye. It is possible to imagine the difficulty between the lines and the will to concentrate.

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Extended Reading

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly quotes

  • Dr. Lepage: We want you to take it easy for a few days.

    Jean-Dominique Bauby: What do you think I'm doing now?

  • [last lines]

    Céline: Bauby, 43, a renowned journalist, family man and free spirit, was planning a book about female revenge.