Words on Le Scaphandre et le Papillon

I started to watch some indie/foreign films lately, as they are usually more surprising, inspiring, and more educating. The Camelview 5 Harkins theatre just north of Scottsdale Fashion Square (sharing the same parking lot) is my favorite in Arizona (because the movies and quality of audience are better). There is a film that I cannot forget, and it is Le Scaphandre et le Papillon (The Diving Bell and the Betterfly). I watched it on January 29, as a treat for the birthday of my friend.

The film is based on a best-selling memoir from a real life story of the aftermath of a disease called "locked-in sydrome" on a middle-class Frenchman named Jean-Dominique Bauby. He had a successful life, being the editor-in-chief of Elle and has three children until he became paralyzed on his way to see an opera with his eldest son. When he woke up after the coma he realized that he was in a hospital and found out that he had lost control of his entire body saved some basic movement on his head and his left eye. He became suicidal at first, but did not have the ability to do so. After the encouragement from his friends and relatives, he realized he could still do two things in his otherwise boring life: Imagining and remembering his past. He was persuaded to write a memoir of his experience on his "locked-in syndrome", using the hard way - being dictated every single alphabet by his assistance using his eye blink. He finished the book couple days before he went into coma and passed away.

What was really touching me about the movie was his spirit to live on and not giving up. Surely he was giving up in the beginning, because he went from an editor-in-chief to a patient that has to be taken care of 24/7. After a while he accepted his disability and was able to face the people he loved, including his children bored by his former lover, his father, and his girlfriend. The title suited this movie well, the diving bell was the physical situation he was in, because he could not communicate with the outside world; and butterfly being the state of mind of his after the initial depressing period he had, and that he can see his seed - children being well taken care of.

One of the saddest parts of the film was the part when Mr. Bauby's father tried to phone his son, and cannot hear his voice because Mr. Bauby was not able to speak. He was crying because he was in his 90's, and he had to withstand the pain of losing his son to the dreaded disease. That part really touched me, as I can feel the sadness that old Mr. Bauby had, and him being "locked-in" because he cannot walk down stair to the outside. It was strongly emotional, but without the melodrama most Hollywood films would have.

I admired the determination of Mr. Bauby's will to finish his book. Just couples day after his book is finished, he fell into a coma and leave this world for good. He might have left away, but he left his imagination and legacy for the living people to live a better life.