The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (film)
Encyclopedia
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is a 2007 biographical drama film
based on Jean-Dominique Bauby
's memoir of the same name
. The film depicts Bauby's life after suffering a massive stroke
, on December 8, 1995, at the age of 42, which left him with a condition known as locked-in syndrome
. The condition paralyzed him from the neck down. Although both eyes worked, doctors decided to sew up his right eye as it was not irrigating properly and they were worried that it would become infected. He was left with only his left eye and the only way that he could communicate was by blinking his left eyelid.
The film was directed by Julian Schnabel
, written by Ronald Harwood
, and stars Mathieu Amalric
as Bauby. It won awards at the Cannes Film Festival
, the Golden Globes, the BAFTAs and the César Awards as well as four Academy Award nominations.
), or Jean-Do as his friends call him, first person perspective. The film opens as Bauby wakes from his three-week coma in a hospital in Berck-sur-Mer, France
. After an initial rather over-optimistic analysis from one doctor, a neurologist explains that he has locked-in syndrome
, an extremely rare condition in which the patient is almost completely physically paralyzed, but remains mentally normal. At first, the viewer primarily hears Bauby's "thoughts" (he thinks he is speaking but no-one hears him), which are inaccessible to the other characters, and are seen through his one functioning eye.
A speech therapist and physical therapist try to help Bauby become as functional as possible. Bauby cannot speak, but he develops a system of communication
with his speech and language therapist by blinking his left eye as she reads a list of letters to laboriously spell out his messages, letter by letter.
Gradually, the film's restricted point of view broadens out, and the viewer begins to see Bauby from 'outside', in addition to experiencing incidents from his past, including a visit to Lourdes
. He also fantasizes, imagining beaches, mountains, the Empress Eugénie, and an erotic feast with one of his transcriptionists. It is revealed that Bauby had been editor of the popular French fashion magazine Elle
, and that he had a deal to write a book (which was originally going to be based on "The Count of Monte Cristo
" but from a female perspective). He decides that he will still write a book, using his slow and exhausting communication technique. A woman from a publishing house with which Bauby had the original book contract is brought in to take dictation.
The new book explains what it is like to now be him, trapped in his body, which he sees as being within an old-fashioned deep-sea diving suit with a brass helmet, which in French is called a scaphandre, as in the original title. However, others around see his spirit, still alive, as a "Butterfly".
The story of Bauby's writing is juxtaposed with his recollections and regrets until his stroke. We see the mother of his three children (whom he never married), his children, his mistress, his friends, and his father. He encounters people from his past whose lives bear similarities to his own "entrapment": a friend who was kidnapped in Beirut and held in solitary confinement for four years, and his own 92-year-old father, who is confined to his own apartment, because he is too frail to descend four flights of stairs.
Bauby eventually completes his memoir and hears the critics' responses. However, he dies of pneumonia
ten days after its publication.
, and the screenplay was originally in English, with Johnny Depp
slated to star as Bauby. According to the screenwriter, Ronald Harwood
, the choice of Julian Schnabel as director was recommended by Depp. However, Universal subsequently withdrew, and Pathé
took up the project two years later. Depp dropped the project due to scheduling conflicts with Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. Schnabel remained as director. The film was eventually produced by Pathé
and France 3 Cinéma, in association with Banque Populaire Images 7 and the American Kennedy/Marshall Company
, and in participation with Canal+
and Ciné Cinémas.
Schnabel said his influence for the film was drawn from personal experience. "My father got sick and he was dying. He was terrified of death and had never been sick in his life. So he was in this bed at my house, he was staying with me, and this script arrived for The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. As my father was dying, I read Ron Harwood’s script.
It gave me a bunch of parameters that would make a film have a totally different structure. As a painter, as someone who doesn’t want to make a painting that looks like the last one I made, I thought it was a really good palette. So personally and artistically these things all came together."
According to the New York Sun
, Schnabel insisted that the movie should be in French, resisting pressure by the production company to make it in English, believing that the rich language of the book would work better in the original French, and even went so far as to learn French to make the film. Harwood tells a slightly different story: Pathé wanted "to make the movie in both English and French, which is why bilingual actors were cast"; he continues that "Everyone secretly knew that two versions would be impossibly expensive", and that "Schnabel decided it should be made in French".
Several aspects of Bauby's personal life were fictionalized in Schnabel's film, most notably his relationships with the mother of his children and his girlfriend.
reported 94% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 142 reviews. Metacritic
reported the film had an average score of 92 out of 100, based on 36 reviews.
on May 22, where Schnabel won the Award for Best Director. It was nominated for four Academy Awards, and won a BAFTA award as such as two César Awards. Schnabel also won Best Director at the 65th Golden Globe Awards
, where the film won Best Foreign Language Film. Because the film was produced by an American company, it was ineligible for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
.
Wins
Nominations
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
based on Jean-Dominique Bauby
Jean-Dominique Bauby
Jean-Dominique Bauby was a well-known French journalist, author and editor of the French fashion magazine ELLE.On 8 December 1995 at the age of 43, Bauby suffered a massive stroke. When he woke up twenty days later, he found he was entirely speechless; he could only blink his left eyelid...
's memoir of the same name
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is a translation of the French memoir Le scaphandre et le papillon by journalist Jean-Dominique Bauby. It describes what his life is like after suffering a massive stroke that left him with a condition called locked-in syndrome...
. The film depicts Bauby's life after suffering a massive stroke
Stroke
A stroke, previously known medically as a cerebrovascular accident , is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by blockage , or a hemorrhage...
, on December 8, 1995, at the age of 42, which left him with a condition known as locked-in syndrome
Locked-In syndrome
Locked-in syndrome is a condition in which a patient is aware and awake but cannot move or communicate verbally due to complete paralysis of nearly all voluntary muscles in the body except for the eyes. Total locked-in syndrome is a version of locked-in syndrome where the eyes are paralyzed as...
. The condition paralyzed him from the neck down. Although both eyes worked, doctors decided to sew up his right eye as it was not irrigating properly and they were worried that it would become infected. He was left with only his left eye and the only way that he could communicate was by blinking his left eyelid.
The film was directed by Julian Schnabel
Julian Schnabel
Julian Schnabel is an American artist and filmmaker. In the 1980s, Schnabel received international media attention for his "plate paintings"—large-scale paintings set on broken ceramic plates....
, written by Ronald Harwood
Ronald Harwood
Sir Ronald Harwood CBE is an author, playwright and screenwriter. He is most noted for his plays for the British stage as well as the screenplays for The Dresser and The Pianist, for which he won the 2003 Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay...
, and stars Mathieu Amalric
Mathieu Amalric
Mathieu Amalric is a French actor and film director, perhaps best known internationally for his performance as the lead villain in Bond film Quantum Of Solace and for his role in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, for which he drew critical acclaim...
as Bauby. It won awards at the Cannes Film Festival
2007 Cannes Film Festival
The 2007 Cannes Film Festival, the sixtieth, ran from 16 to 27 May 2007. Wong Kar-wai's My Blueberry Nights opened the festival, and Denys Arcand's The Age of Ignorance closed...
, the Golden Globes, the BAFTAs and the César Awards as well as four Academy Award nominations.
Plot
The first third of the film is told from the main character's, Bauby (Mathieu AmalricMathieu Amalric
Mathieu Amalric is a French actor and film director, perhaps best known internationally for his performance as the lead villain in Bond film Quantum Of Solace and for his role in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, for which he drew critical acclaim...
), or Jean-Do as his friends call him, first person perspective. The film opens as Bauby wakes from his three-week coma in a hospital in Berck-sur-Mer, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. After an initial rather over-optimistic analysis from one doctor, a neurologist explains that he has locked-in syndrome
Locked-In syndrome
Locked-in syndrome is a condition in which a patient is aware and awake but cannot move or communicate verbally due to complete paralysis of nearly all voluntary muscles in the body except for the eyes. Total locked-in syndrome is a version of locked-in syndrome where the eyes are paralyzed as...
, an extremely rare condition in which the patient is almost completely physically paralyzed, but remains mentally normal. At first, the viewer primarily hears Bauby's "thoughts" (he thinks he is speaking but no-one hears him), which are inaccessible to the other characters, and are seen through his one functioning eye.
A speech therapist and physical therapist try to help Bauby become as functional as possible. Bauby cannot speak, but he develops a system of communication
Partner assisted scanning
Partner assisted scanning or listener assisted scanning is an augmentative and alternative communication technique used to enable a person with severe speech impairments to communicate. The approach is used with individuals who, due to sickness or disability, have severe motor impairments and good...
with his speech and language therapist by blinking his left eye as she reads a list of letters to laboriously spell out his messages, letter by letter.
Gradually, the film's restricted point of view broadens out, and the viewer begins to see Bauby from 'outside', in addition to experiencing incidents from his past, including a visit to Lourdes
Lourdes
Lourdes is a commune in the Hautes-Pyrénées department in the Midi-Pyrénées region in south-western France.Lourdes is a small market town lying in the foothills of the Pyrenees, famous for the Marian apparitions of Our Lady of Lourdes occurred in 1858 to Bernadette Soubirous...
. He also fantasizes, imagining beaches, mountains, the Empress Eugénie, and an erotic feast with one of his transcriptionists. It is revealed that Bauby had been editor of the popular French fashion magazine Elle
Elle (magazine)
Elle is a worldwide magazine of French origin that focuses on women's fashion, beauty, health, and entertainment. Elle is also the world's largest fashion magazine. It was founded by Pierre Lazareff and his wife Hélène Gordon in 1945. The title, in French, means "she".-History:Elle was founded in...
, and that he had a deal to write a book (which was originally going to be based on "The Count of Monte Cristo
The Count of Monte Cristo
The Count of Monte Cristo is an adventure novel by Alexandre Dumas. It is often considered to be, along with The Three Musketeers, Dumas's most popular work. He completed the work in 1844...
" but from a female perspective). He decides that he will still write a book, using his slow and exhausting communication technique. A woman from a publishing house with which Bauby had the original book contract is brought in to take dictation.
The new book explains what it is like to now be him, trapped in his body, which he sees as being within an old-fashioned deep-sea diving suit with a brass helmet, which in French is called a scaphandre, as in the original title. However, others around see his spirit, still alive, as a "Butterfly".
The story of Bauby's writing is juxtaposed with his recollections and regrets until his stroke. We see the mother of his three children (whom he never married), his children, his mistress, his friends, and his father. He encounters people from his past whose lives bear similarities to his own "entrapment": a friend who was kidnapped in Beirut and held in solitary confinement for four years, and his own 92-year-old father, who is confined to his own apartment, because he is too frail to descend four flights of stairs.
Bauby eventually completes his memoir and hears the critics' responses. However, he dies of pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
ten days after its publication.
Cast
- Mathieu AmalricMathieu AmalricMathieu Amalric is a French actor and film director, perhaps best known internationally for his performance as the lead villain in Bond film Quantum Of Solace and for his role in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, for which he drew critical acclaim...
as Jean-Dominique BaubyJean-Dominique BaubyJean-Dominique Bauby was a well-known French journalist, author and editor of the French fashion magazine ELLE.On 8 December 1995 at the age of 43, Bauby suffered a massive stroke. When he woke up twenty days later, he found he was entirely speechless; he could only blink his left eyelid... - Emmanuelle SeignerEmmanuelle SeignerEmmanuelle Seigner is a French actress, former fashion model, and singer, best known as the wife of Academy Award winning director Roman Polanski, and for her roles in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly , and Frantic...
as Céline Desmoulins - Anne ConsignyAnne ConsignyAnne Consigny is a French film actress who is active since 1981. She received a César Awards nomination for Best Actress for her role in the film Je ne suis pas là pour être aimé...
as Claude Mendibil - Marie-Josée CrozeMarie-Josée Croze-Career:Croze was born in Montreal, QC. She won the award for Best Actress at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival for her performance in The Barbarian Invasions. She was cast by prominent Hollywood director Steven Spielberg for his film Munich which was released in December 2005...
as Henriette Durand - Olatz López Garmendia as Marie Lopez
- Patrick ChesnaisPatrick Chesnais- Biography :Patrick Chesnais was born in La Garenne-Colombes, Hauts-de-Seine. He was educated at the Lycée Pierre Corneille in Rouen.In 1989, he won the César Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his performance in the film La Lectrice directed by Michel Deville...
as Dr. Lepage - Max von SydowMax von SydowMax von Sydow is a Swedish actor. He has also held French citizenship since 2002. He has starred in many films and had supporting roles in dozens more...
as Mr. Bauby Sr. - Isaach De BankoléIsaach De BankoléIsaach or Isaac de Bankolé is an Ivorian actor.-Work:He has appeared in over 30 films, including Jim Jarmusch's Night on Earth, Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, and Coffee and Cigarettes...
as Laurent - Marina HandsMarina Hands- Biography :Hands is the daughter of British director Terry Hands and French actress Ludmila Mikaël, and the granddaughter of painter Pierre Dmitrienko. She studied acting at the Cours Florent and the CNSAD in France, and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art in England...
as Joséphine - Niels ArestrupNiels ArestrupNiels Arestrup is a French actor.Born in Paris into a family of modest means, his father was Danish and his mother was French...
as Roussin - Emma de CaunesEmma de CaunesEmma de Caunes is a French film actress. She is best known for playing the role of Sabine in Mr. Bean's Holiday.- Life and career :...
as Empress Eugénie
Production
Although made in France with a French-speaking cast, the film was originally to be produced by the American company Universal StudiosUniversal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
, and the screenplay was originally in English, with Johnny Depp
Johnny Depp
John Christopher "Johnny" Depp II is an American actor, producer and musician. He has won the Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild award for Best Actor. Depp rose to prominence on the 1980s television series 21 Jump Street, becoming a teen idol...
slated to star as Bauby. According to the screenwriter, Ronald Harwood
Ronald Harwood
Sir Ronald Harwood CBE is an author, playwright and screenwriter. He is most noted for his plays for the British stage as well as the screenplays for The Dresser and The Pianist, for which he won the 2003 Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay...
, the choice of Julian Schnabel as director was recommended by Depp. However, Universal subsequently withdrew, and Pathé
Pathé
Pathé or Pathé Frères is the name of various French businesses founded and originally run by the Pathé Brothers of France.-History:...
took up the project two years later. Depp dropped the project due to scheduling conflicts with Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. Schnabel remained as director. The film was eventually produced by Pathé
Pathé
Pathé or Pathé Frères is the name of various French businesses founded and originally run by the Pathé Brothers of France.-History:...
and France 3 Cinéma, in association with Banque Populaire Images 7 and the American Kennedy/Marshall Company
The Kennedy/Marshall Company
The Kennedy/Marshall Company ' is an American film-production company, based in Santa Monica, California, founded in 1992 by Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall, who are married....
, and in participation with Canal+
Canal+
Canal+ is a French premium pay television channel launched in 1984. It is 80% owned by the Canal+ Group, which in turn is owned by Vivendi SA. The channel broadcasts several kinds of programming, mostly encrypted...
and Ciné Cinémas.
Schnabel said his influence for the film was drawn from personal experience. "My father got sick and he was dying. He was terrified of death and had never been sick in his life. So he was in this bed at my house, he was staying with me, and this script arrived for The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. As my father was dying, I read Ron Harwood’s script.
It gave me a bunch of parameters that would make a film have a totally different structure. As a painter, as someone who doesn’t want to make a painting that looks like the last one I made, I thought it was a really good palette. So personally and artistically these things all came together."
According to the New York Sun
New York Sun
The New York Sun was a weekday daily newspaper published in New York City from 2002 to 2008. When it debuted on April 16, 2002, adopting the name, motto, and masthead of an otherwise unrelated earlier New York paper, The Sun , it became the first general-interest broadsheet newspaper to be started...
, Schnabel insisted that the movie should be in French, resisting pressure by the production company to make it in English, believing that the rich language of the book would work better in the original French, and even went so far as to learn French to make the film. Harwood tells a slightly different story: Pathé wanted "to make the movie in both English and French, which is why bilingual actors were cast"; he continues that "Everyone secretly knew that two versions would be impossibly expensive", and that "Schnabel decided it should be made in French".
Several aspects of Bauby's personal life were fictionalized in Schnabel's film, most notably his relationships with the mother of his children and his girlfriend.
Critical reception
The film received universal acclaim from critics; as of 2008, the review aggregator Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
reported 94% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 142 reviews. Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
reported the film had an average score of 92 out of 100, based on 36 reviews.
Top ten lists
The film appeared on many critics' top ten lists of the best films of 2007.- 1st
- Ann Hornaday, The Washington PostThe Washington PostThe Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
- Carina Chocano, Los Angeles TimesLos Angeles TimesThe Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
(tied with The SavagesThe Savages (film)The Savages is a 2007 American comedy-drama film, written and directed by Tamara Jenkins. It stars Philip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Linney and premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.-Plot:...
) - David EdelsteinDavid EdelsteinDavid Edelstein is the chief film critic for New York Magazine, as well as the film critic for NPR's Fresh Air and CBS Sunday Morning. He lives in Brooklyn, New York....
, New YorkNew York (magazine)New York is a weekly magazine principally concerned with the life, culture, politics, and style of New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to The New Yorker, it was brasher and less polite than that magazine, and established itself as a cradle of New...
magazine - Frank Scheck, The Hollywood ReporterThe Hollywood ReporterFormerly a daily trade magazine, The Hollywood Reporter re-launched in late 2010 as a unique hybrid publication serving the entertainment industry and a consumer audience...
- Joe Morgenstern, The Wall Street JournalThe Wall Street JournalThe Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....
- Kevin Crust, Los Angeles TimesLos Angeles TimesThe Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
- Kirk Honeycutt, The Hollywood ReporterThe Hollywood ReporterFormerly a daily trade magazine, The Hollywood Reporter re-launched in late 2010 as a unique hybrid publication serving the entertainment industry and a consumer audience...
- Kyle SmithKyle SmithKyle Smith is an American critic, novelist and essayist. He is a staff film critic for the New York Post. His film reviewing style has been called "an exercise in hilarious hostility" by Entertainment Weekly....
, New York PostNew York PostThe New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions... - Lawrence Toppman, The Charlotte ObserverThe Charlotte ObserverThe Charlotte Observer, serving Charlotte, North Carolina and its metro area, is the largest newspaper, in terms of circulation, in North Carolina and South Carolina...
- Ann Hornaday, The Washington Post
- 2nd
- Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles TimesLos Angeles TimesThe Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
- Lou Lumenick, New York PostNew York PostThe New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...
- Michael Phillips, Chicago TribuneChicago TribuneThe Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
- Peter Rainer, The Christian Science MonitorThe Christian Science MonitorThe Christian Science Monitor is an international newspaper published daily online, Monday to Friday, and weekly in print. It was started in 1908 by Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of the Church of Christ, Scientist. As of 2009, the print circulation was 67,703.The CSM is a newspaper that covers...
- Fredrik Gunerius Fevang, The Fresh Films
- Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times
- 3rd
- Dana StevensDana Stevens (critic)Dana Shawn Stevens is a movie critic at Slate magazine. She is also a regular on the magazine's weekly cultural podcast the Culture Gabfest.-Life and career:Stevens grew up in Scarsdale, New York...
, SlateSlate (magazine)Slate is a US-based English language online current affairs and culture magazine created in 1996 by former New Republic editor Michael Kinsley, initially under the ownership of Microsoft as part of MSN. On 21 December 2004 it was purchased by the Washington Post Company... - Desson Thomson, The Washington PostThe Washington PostThe Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
- Liam Lacey and Rick Groen, The Globe and MailThe Globe and MailThe Globe and Mail is a nationally distributed Canadian newspaper, based in Toronto and printed in six cities across the country. With a weekly readership of approximately 1 million, it is Canada's largest-circulation national newspaper and second-largest daily newspaper after the Toronto Star...
- Dana Stevens
-
- Stephanie Zacharek, SalonSalon.comSalon.com, part of Salon Media Group , often just called Salon, is an online liberal magazine, with content updated each weekday. Salon was founded by David Talbot and launched on November 20, 1995. It was the internet's first online-only commercial publication. The magazine focuses on U.S...
- Stephen Farber, The Hollywood ReporterThe Hollywood ReporterFormerly a daily trade magazine, The Hollywood Reporter re-launched in late 2010 as a unique hybrid publication serving the entertainment industry and a consumer audience...
- Stephen Holden, The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
- Steven Rea, The Philadelphia InquirerThe Philadelphia InquirerThe Philadelphia Inquirer is a morning daily newspaper that serves the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, metropolitan area of the United States. The newspaper was founded by John R. Walker and John Norvell in June 1829 as The Pennsylvania Inquirer and is the third-oldest surviving daily newspaper in the...
- Stephanie Zacharek, Salon
- 4th
- Ray Bennett, The Hollywood ReporterThe Hollywood ReporterFormerly a daily trade magazine, The Hollywood Reporter re-launched in late 2010 as a unique hybrid publication serving the entertainment industry and a consumer audience...
- Ray Bennett, The Hollywood Reporter
- 5th
- Andrew O'Hehir, SalonSalon.comSalon.com, part of Salon Media Group , often just called Salon, is an online liberal magazine, with content updated each weekday. Salon was founded by David Talbot and launched on November 20, 1995. It was the internet's first online-only commercial publication. The magazine focuses on U.S...
- Ty Burr, The Boston GlobeThe Boston GlobeThe Boston Globe is an American daily newspaper based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Boston Globe has been owned by The New York Times Company since 1993...
- Andrew O'Hehir, Salon
- 6th
- James BerardinelliJames BerardinelliJames Berardinelli is an American online film critic.-Personal life:Berardinelli was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey and spent his early childhood in Morristown, New Jersey. At the age of nine years, he relocated to the township of Cherry Hill, New Jersey...
, ReelViews - Glenn Kenny, PremierePremiere (magazine)Premiere was an American and New York City-based film magazine published by Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S., published between the years 1987 and 2007. The original version of the magazine, Première , was started in France in 1976 and is still being published there.-History:The magazine originally...
- Peter Vonder Haar, Film ThreatFilm ThreatFilm Threat is a former print magazine and, now, webzine which focuses primarily on independent film, although it also reviews DVDs of mainstream films and Hollywood movies in theaters. It first appeared as a photocopied zine in 1985, created by Wayne State University students Chris Gore and André...
- James Berardinelli
- 7th
- A. O. ScottA. O. ScottAnthony Oliver Scott, known as A. O. Scott , is an American journalist and critic. He is a chief film critic for The New York Times, along with Manohla Dargis.-Background and education:...
, The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
(tied with Into the WildInto the Wild (film)Into the Wild is a 2007 American biographical drama film directed by Sean Penn. It is an adaptation of 1996 non-fiction book of the same name by Jon Krakauer based on the travels of Christopher McCandless across North America in the early 1990s. The film stars Emile Hirsch as McCandless with...
) - David AnsenDavid AnsenDavid Ansen is a reviewer and senior editor for Newsweek, where he has been reviewing movies since 1977. He came to Newsweek after several years as the chief film critic at Boston's The Real Paper...
, NewsweekNewsweekNewsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence... - Michael Rechtshaffen, The Hollywood ReporterThe Hollywood ReporterFormerly a daily trade magazine, The Hollywood Reporter re-launched in late 2010 as a unique hybrid publication serving the entertainment industry and a consumer audience...
- Rene Rodriguez, The Miami HeraldThe Miami HeraldThe Miami Herald is a daily newspaper owned by The McClatchy Company headquartered on Biscayne Bay in the Omni district of Downtown Miami, Florida, United States...
- Sheri Linden, The Hollywood ReporterThe Hollywood ReporterFormerly a daily trade magazine, The Hollywood Reporter re-launched in late 2010 as a unique hybrid publication serving the entertainment industry and a consumer audience...
- A. O. Scott
Awards and nominations
The film premiered in competition at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival2007 Cannes Film Festival
The 2007 Cannes Film Festival, the sixtieth, ran from 16 to 27 May 2007. Wong Kar-wai's My Blueberry Nights opened the festival, and Denys Arcand's The Age of Ignorance closed...
on May 22, where Schnabel won the Award for Best Director. It was nominated for four Academy Awards, and won a BAFTA award as such as two César Awards. Schnabel also won Best Director at the 65th Golden Globe Awards
65th Golden Globe Awards
The 65th Golden Globe Awards, honoring the best in film and television of 2007, were scheduled to be presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association on January 13, 2008...
, where the film won Best Foreign Language Film. Because the film was produced by an American company, it was ineligible for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
The Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film is one of the Academy Awards of Merit, popularly known as the Oscars, handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences...
.
Wins
- 61st BAFTA Awards
- BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay
- 65th Golden Globe Awards65th Golden Globe AwardsThe 65th Golden Globe Awards, honoring the best in film and television of 2007, were scheduled to be presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association on January 13, 2008...
- Best Foreign Language Film
- Best Director - Motion Picture (Julian SchnabelJulian SchnabelJulian Schnabel is an American artist and filmmaker. In the 1980s, Schnabel received international media attention for his "plate paintings"—large-scale paintings set on broken ceramic plates....
)
- 60th Cannes Film Festival2007 Cannes Film FestivalThe 2007 Cannes Film Festival, the sixtieth, ran from 16 to 27 May 2007. Wong Kar-wai's My Blueberry Nights opened the festival, and Denys Arcand's The Age of Ignorance closed...
- Best DirectorBest Director Award (Cannes Film Festival)The Best Director Award is an award presented at the Cannes Film Festival. It is chosen by the jury from the 'official section' of movies at the festival. It was first awarded in 1946....
- Technical Grand Prize
- Best Director
- César Awards 2008César Awards 2008The 2008 César Awards were the 32nd edition of the biggest annual film awards in France. The ceremony took place in the Théâtre du Châtelet on 22 February 2008; it was presented by Antoine de Caunes.-Winners and nominees:...
- Best ActorCésar Award for Best ActorThis is the list of winners and nominees of the César Award for Best Actor .-1970s:-1980s:-1990s:-2000s:-2010s:...
(Mathieu AmalricMathieu AmalricMathieu Amalric is a French actor and film director, perhaps best known internationally for his performance as the lead villain in Bond film Quantum Of Solace and for his role in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, for which he drew critical acclaim...
) - Best EditingCésar Award for Best EditingThe César Award for Best Editing is one of the annual César Awards given by the French Académie des Arts et Techniques du Cinema. Eligible films are usually in the French language.-1970s:-1980s:-1990s:...
(Juliette WelflingJuliette WelflingJuliette Welfling is a French film editor. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Film Editing for her work in the 2007 movie The Diving Bell and the Butterfly...
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- Best Actor
- National Board of Review
- Best Foreign Film
- Boston Society of Film CriticsBoston Society of Film CriticsThe Boston Society of Film Critics is an organization of film reviewers from Boston, Massachusetts, United States, based publications.The BSFC was formed in 1981 to make "Boston's unique critical perspective heard on a national and international level by awarding commendations to the best of the...
- Best Director
- Best Cinematography
- Best Foreign Language Film
- New York Film Critics OnlineNew York Film Critics OnlineThe New York Film Critics Online is an organization composed of Internet film critics based in New York City. The group meets once a year, in December, for voting on its annual NYFCO Awards.-Awards:*New York Film Critics Online Awards 2003...
- Best Picture (tie with There Will Be BloodThere Will Be BloodThere Will Be Blood is a 2007 drama film written, co-produced, and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. The film is based on Upton Sinclair's 1927 novel Oil!. It tells the story of a silver miner-turned-oilman on a ruthless quest for wealth during Southern California's oil boom of the late 19th and...
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- Best Picture (tie with There Will Be Blood
- Los Angeles Film Critics AssociationLos Angeles Film Critics AssociationThe Los Angeles Film Critics Association was founded in 1975. Its main purpose is to present yearly awards to members of the film industry who have excelled in their fields. These awards are presented each January...
- Best Picture (runner-up)
- Best Director (runner-up)
- Best Foreign Language Film (runner-up)
- Best Cinematography
- Washington D.C. Area Film Critics AssociationWashington D.C. Area Film Critics AssociationThe Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association is a group of film critics based out of Washington, D.C., United States that was founded in 2003. WAFCA is composed of 34 DC-based film critics from television, radio, print and the internet...
- Best Foreign Language Film
- San Francisco Film Critics CircleSan Francisco Film Critics CircleThe San Francisco Film Critics Circle was founded in 2002 as an organization of film journalists and critics from San Francisco, California based publications....
- Best Foreign Language Film
- American Film InstituteAmerican Film InstituteThe American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act...
Awards- Top Ten AFI Movies of the Year
- Satellite AwardsSatellite AwardsThe Satellite Awards are an annual award given by the International Press Academy. The awards were originally known as the Golden Satellite Awards.- Film :*Best Actor – Drama*Best Actor – Musical or Comedy*Best Actress – Drama...
- Best Cinematography
- The EDA Awards
- Best Editing
- Best Foreign Film
- Outstanding Achievement By A Woman In 2007
- Toronto Film Critics AssociationToronto Film Critics AssociationThe Toronto Film Critics Association is an organization of film reviewers from Toronto-based publications. As of 1999, the TFCA is member of FIPRESCI.-History:...
- Best Foreign Film (runner-up)
Nominations
- 80th Academy Awards80th Academy AwardsThe 80th Academy Awards ceremony honored the best films in 2007 and was broadcast from the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California on ABC beginning at 5:30 p.m. PST/8:30 p.m. EST, February 24, 2008 . During the ceremony, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presented Academy Awards in 24...
- Best Director (Julian SchnabelJulian SchnabelJulian Schnabel is an American artist and filmmaker. In the 1980s, Schnabel received international media attention for his "plate paintings"—large-scale paintings set on broken ceramic plates....
) - Best Adapted Screenplay (Ronald HarwoodRonald HarwoodSir Ronald Harwood CBE is an author, playwright and screenwriter. He is most noted for his plays for the British stage as well as the screenplays for The Dresser and The Pianist, for which he won the 2003 Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay...
) - Best CinematographyAcademy Award for Best CinematographyThe Academy Award for Best Cinematography is an Academy Award awarded each year to a cinematographer for work in one particular motion picture.-History:...
(Janusz KamińskiJanusz KaminskiJanusz Zygmunt Kamiński is a Polish cinematographer and film director. He has photographed all of Steven Spielberg's films since 1993's Schindler's List.-Life and career:...
) - Best Film EditingAcademy Award for Film EditingThe Academy Award for Film Editing is one of the annual awards of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Nominations for this award are closely correlated with the Academy Award for Best Picture. Since 1981, every film selected as Best Picture has also been nominated for the Film Editing...
(Juliette WelflingJuliette WelflingJuliette Welfling is a French film editor. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Film Editing for her work in the 2007 movie The Diving Bell and the Butterfly...
)
- Best Director (Julian Schnabel
- 60th Cannes Film Festival2007 Cannes Film FestivalThe 2007 Cannes Film Festival, the sixtieth, ran from 16 to 27 May 2007. Wong Kar-wai's My Blueberry Nights opened the festival, and Denys Arcand's The Age of Ignorance closed...
- Golden Palm (Julian SchnabelJulian SchnabelJulian Schnabel is an American artist and filmmaker. In the 1980s, Schnabel received international media attention for his "plate paintings"—large-scale paintings set on broken ceramic plates....
)
- Golden Palm (Julian Schnabel
- 65th Golden Globe Awards65th Golden Globe AwardsThe 65th Golden Globe Awards, honoring the best in film and television of 2007, were scheduled to be presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association on January 13, 2008...
- Best Screenplay - Motion Picture (Ronald HarwoodRonald HarwoodSir Ronald Harwood CBE is an author, playwright and screenwriter. He is most noted for his plays for the British stage as well as the screenplays for The Dresser and The Pianist, for which he won the 2003 Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay...
)
- Best Screenplay - Motion Picture (Ronald Harwood
- César Awards 2008César Awards 2008The 2008 César Awards were the 32nd edition of the biggest annual film awards in France. The ceremony took place in the Théâtre du Châtelet on 22 February 2008; it was presented by Antoine de Caunes.-Winners and nominees:...
- Best FilmCésar Award for Best FilmThe winners and nominees of the César Award for Best Film .-1970s:-1980s:-1990s:-2000s:-2010s:...
(Jérôme Seydoux and Julian SchnabelJulian SchnabelJulian Schnabel is an American artist and filmmaker. In the 1980s, Schnabel received international media attention for his "plate paintings"—large-scale paintings set on broken ceramic plates....
) - Best DirectorCésar Award for Best DirectorThis is the list of winners and nominees of the César Award for Best Director .-1970s:-1980s:-1990s:-2000s:-2010s:...
(Julian SchnabelJulian SchnabelJulian Schnabel is an American artist and filmmaker. In the 1980s, Schnabel received international media attention for his "plate paintings"—large-scale paintings set on broken ceramic plates....
) - Best Adaptation (Ronald HarwoodRonald HarwoodSir Ronald Harwood CBE is an author, playwright and screenwriter. He is most noted for his plays for the British stage as well as the screenplays for The Dresser and The Pianist, for which he won the 2003 Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay...
) - Best CinematographyCésar Award for Best CinematographyThe following are the winners of the annual César Award for Best Cinematography .-1970s:-1980s:-1990s:-2000s:-2010s:...
(Janusz KamińskiJanusz KaminskiJanusz Zygmunt Kamiński is a Polish cinematographer and film director. He has photographed all of Steven Spielberg's films since 1993's Schindler's List.-Life and career:...
) - Best SoundCésar Award for Best SoundThis is the list of winners and nominees of the César Award for Best Sound .-Winners and nominees:*1976 : Nara Kollery *1977 : Jean-Pierre Ruh *1978 : Jacques Maumont...
(Dominique Gaborieau)
- Best Film
- Directors Guild of AmericaDirectors Guild of AmericaDirectors Guild of America is an entertainment labor union which represents the interests of film and television directors in the United States motion picture industry...
- Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures
External links
- IONCINEMA.com interviews Cast & Crew of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
- "The Nerve and The Will" review at the New York Review of BooksThe New York Review of BooksThe New York Review of Books is a fortnightly magazine with articles on literature, culture and current affairs. Published in New York City, it takes as its point of departure that the discussion of important books is itself an indispensable literary activity...
- "The truth about 'The Diving Bell and the Butterfly'" article at Salon.comSalon.comSalon.com, part of Salon Media Group , often just called Salon, is an online liberal magazine, with content updated each weekday. Salon was founded by David Talbot and launched on November 20, 1995. It was the internet's first online-only commercial publication. The magazine focuses on U.S...