The Diving Bell and the Butterfly Review

Let me preface this review by saying: I am a complete sucker for film. In person, in conversation, to most people, I'm a cynic and a wise-ass, but if you set a halfway decent scene in a film to the right piece of music, I'll get chills every time.

But though I am so prone to falling under the escapist thrill of the theater, losing myself in another world, they all vanish when the house lights come up, and the world fades from vision like a camera flash- by the time I see something on video, it's not clear what the magic was in the first place.

Given all this, however, I still cannot even begin to describe to you how profoundly moving, and lasting, Julian Schnabel's The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (Le Scaphandre Et Le Papillon) was for me. The true story of a man paralyzed by a stroke, and only able to communicate by blinking his left eyelid- Jean Dominique Bauby painstaking composed a memoir in his head, and slowly dictated it to a transcriber in 1997.

And while I realize that the truth behind the story does most of the heavy lifting emotionally, it's to the film's ultimate credit and benefit that it doesn't approach it in any way with a Reader's Digest, disease of the week melodramatic approach- Bauby's memoir is wry and uncomplaining, a tone preserved for his character.

There's no cloying voice-over, there's no forced reconciliations, and no attempt to disguise the complicated relationship between Bauby and the estranged mother of his children. Instead, Schnabel and screenwriter Ronald Hardwood, both Oscar nominees, make the film as subjective and visceral as possible- the first ten minutes are hazy, out of focus and incoherent, as the audience experiences waking up with Bauby after a three week coma, to discover his "locked-in" syndrome.

The camera eventually moves outside of Bauby's perspective, as his family and friends come to visit, or don't- his girlfriend doesn't work up the nerve, and in the film's most moving scene, his aging father (a completely robbed-by-the-Academy Max Von Sydow) has to call him on the phone and awkwardly communicate with an interpreter, since he is unable to travel to the hospital where his son lies imprisoned.

The hazy, dreamlike quality of the film's look is beautifully matched to the wistful, quick tone of Bauby's memoir, which is told entirely in vignettes of a few pages. Harwood does a wonderful cataloging these brief impressions into a powerful narrative.

When to See It: As Soon As Humanly Possible

Leftover thoughts:

• After much deliberation, I'm putting this in at number 2 on the top twenty of 2007 list- it's just not as complete a film as No Country, which is equally profound without relying on an unavoidable rush of empathy from the viewer. But choosing between two films so completely different is a fool's errand anyway.
• It's hard not to compare oneself to Bauby- especially since I've never finished a book (I'm a wannabe writer) with the use of my body entirely intact.
• Julian Schnabel- actually a New Yorker that learned French to make this film in the language it should be in. That explains the use of mostly English-language soundtrack music, though (like a great Joe Strummer song over the closing credits).

An Open Letter to Landmark Cinemas

Dear Landmark,

First of all, let me say I really appreciate what you bring to Milwaukee. Without your two locations, we'd all be stuck waiting for the release of any independent or limited release movies worth a damn.

That being said, what the hell, Landmark? I distinctly remember seeing, in the lobby of your very own, nationally respected Oriental Theatre, a poster for Julian Schnabel's The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, a reportedly outstanding film that just earned four Oscar nominations.

Later, I noticed that the posters had a date of "February 1st" attached to them- it was a little longer than I wanted to wait for a film I was so excited about, but I understand you have locations all over the country, and you can't get every print to everybody at once.

But now, after all this, I see you're not getting said film this Friday, nor are you getting the highly regarded Persepolis on Friday at all. What gives?

I notice that Diving Bell is playing at both of your locations in Chicago- you couldn't send one of those prints up the Interstate? I know our market here is small, but don't make me promises you can't keep.

Will you have it soon? Can I trust you when you say you will? Will I finally get to the theatre, only to be shown Alvin and the Chipmunks instead?

Stop shattering my hopes, Landmark. I want to make this relationship work again.

- Duncan

(mini-open letter to Marcus Cinemas:

You guys didn't promise me anything, but do you really need a print of Diving Bell in both Green Bay and Appelton, WI, without providing one for the state's biggest city? Just saying.)

Duncan's Oscar Nominee Predictions

So, no more hand-wringing, no more shuffling my feet- it’s time to lay down some cold, hard, Oscar Predictions.

Best Picture

No Country For Old Men
There Will Be Blood
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Atonement
Michael Clayton

The BAFTAs came out last night, and just like I thought, Atonement led the field with 14 nominations, but Sweeney Todd was nowhere. So welcome back to contention, Joe Wright, Keira Knightly, et al. Too bad there aren’t enough British people in the Academy to give you more than one Oscar or two come February.

No Country and Blood have cemented all around support, while Into the Wild seems to have had the wheels fall off, despite earlier Guild support. I’m guessing (it’s a gut feeling), that it’ll ultimately get pushed off the ballot by The Diving Bell and The Butterfly. Although if I’m wrong anywhere on here, it’s probably the exclusion of Juno, but it feels like a mirage of a juggernaut to me- it should end up with the Eternal Sunshine combo of leading actress nom and original screenplay win for its trouble, but nothing else.

Best Director

Joel and Ethan Coen- No Country For Old Men
Paul Thomas Anderson- There Will Be Blood
Joe Wright - Atonement
Julian Schnabel – The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Tony Gilroy – Michael Clayton

This came down to three locks- Coens, Anderson, and Schnabel, another BAFTA/Globe influenced inclusion in Wright (Sorry Tim Burton), and a tossup between Tony Gilroy and Sean Penn. This is pretty close to the DGA’s list, but with Wright instead of Penn, and they usually call four out of five (and almost always predict the winner).

Best Original Screenplay

Diablo Cody- Juno
Tony Gilroy- Michael Clayton
Tamara Jenkins- The Savages
Nancy Oliver- Lars and the Real Girl
Brad Bird- Ratatouille

Most of the heavy hitters are in adapted this year, which leaves this category open for newcomers and oddballs- I’m counting on Brad Bird to duplicate his Incredibles nomination, and Jenkins and Oliver’s screenplays are getting lots of buzz. And Diablo Cody’s Juno script is a guaranteed winner already.

Best Adapted Screenplay

Joel and Ethan Coen- No Country For Old Men
Paul Thomas Anderson- There Will Be Blood
Christopher Hampton- Atonement
Ronald Hardwood- The Diving Bell and The Butterfly
James Vanderbilt- Zodiac

Four Best Picture Nominees, and the nearly forgotten about Zodiac. What gets me is that the Coen brothers are almost certain to win for No Country, but they did the least work of anyone in adapting that novel- it’s nearly scene for scene, word for word the same as McCarthy. Go figure.

Lead Actor

Daniel Day Lewis – There Will Be Blood
George Clooney- Michael Clayton
Viggo Mortensen – Eastern Promises
Johnny Depp – Sweeney Todd
Emile Hirsch- Into the Wild

“Ladies and gentlemen… I’ve traveled over half our state to be here tonight. I couldn't get away sooner because my new well was coming in at Coyote Hills and I had to see about it. That well is now flowing at two thousand barrels and it's paying me an income of five thousand dollars a week. I have two others drilling and I have sixteen producing at Antelope. So, ladies and gentlemen... if I say I'm an oil man, you will agree.”

Lead Actress

Julie Christie- Away From Her
Marion Cotillard – La Vie En Rose
Ellen Page- Juno
Angelina Jolie- A Mighty Heart
Laura Linney- The Savages

Another film from the first half of the year that would have many more nominations if it came out a month ago- Away From Her is going to end up with just Christie’s nomination, but she’s the favorite for the statue. Angelina Jolie… ugh. But she’s got the homecoming dance vote. Ellen Page will probably set some sort of record for the youngest person to ever get a lead nomination, and hopefully Laura Linney will have had enough time for The Savages to make the rounds of the country before ballots are due.

Supporting Actor

Javier Bardem- No Country For Old Men
Casey Affleck- The Assassination of Jesse James
Phillip Seymour Hoffman- Charlie Wilson’s War
Hal Holbrook- Into The Wild
Tom Wilkinson- Michael Clayton

An easy field this year- Holbrook has the most acclaim of anyone in that film, but he’s got too much competition to take home the statue.

Supporting Actress

Cate Blanchett- I’m Not There
Amy Ryan- Gone Baby Gone
Saoirse Ronan- Atonement
Tilda Swinton- Michael Clayton
Ruby Dee- American Gangster

If there’s one thing this category loves, it’s old ladies and little kids- hence Ruby Dee, plus pint-sized Saoirse Ronan garnering Atonement’s only acting nom (sorry Keira. Go eat a cheeseburger). Cate Blanchett get’s this year’s obligatory “extreme transformation” nomination, but hopefully not the win- Amy Ryan really deserves the accolades she’s been getting for making us feel for an unlikeable character.

Animated Feature

Persepolis
Ratatouille
The Simpsons Movie

This is an easy category to predict the nominees for (sadly, Paprika is getting no love from anyone), but the Ratatouille versus Persepolis debate is impossible to figure- Pixar’s been taking home all of the early awards, but the Oscars never go for the obvious in this category. Plus the political and biographical context to Persepolis make it a much more unique and appealing choice.

Cinematography

Roger Deakins- No Country For Old Men
Robert Elswit- There Will Be Blood
Janusz Kaminski- The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Seamus McGarvey- Atonement
Eric Gautier- Into the Wild

I was on the fence about the double nod for Deakins (he got two guild noms, with one for The Assassination of Jesse James), but I think Into the Wild is powered by the strength of the cinematography. Kaminski is owed one after getting shafted for his work on Children of Men.

Editing

“Roderick Jaynes”(the Coens)- No Country For Old Men
Dylan Tichenor- There Will Be Blood
Jay Cassidy- Into the Wild
John Gilroy- Michael Clayton
Chris Lebenzon- Sweeney Todd

Atonement is not terribly jumpy or complex to merit an editing nomination, and Into the Wild beat it out for the guild nods. Otherwise, some very epic films fill out this category, the winner of which usually wins best picture (I read this on awardsdaily.com, my favorite Oscar Blog).

Art Direction

No Country For Old Men
There Will Be Blood
Sweeney Todd
Atonement
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

Dave had the fortitude to look up the rest of the individual technical nominees. Me? Just the movie title. I just think about these things in general terms, with an eye on the guild noms. Sweeney Todd seems like it’ll make up for lost love in these categories, and otherwise period pieces are a good bet. No Country is an unconventional choice, but it has unanimous across the board support, and it is set nearly thirty years ago…

Visual Effects

Pirates 3
300
Transformers

There’s a pattern to this category- two obvious choices (Transformers, Pirates), and one visually innovative choice, thus 300.

Makeup

Sweeney Todd
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Pirates 3

I figure a year for outstanding makeup grotesquery, between squid people, pale faced throat-slashers, and stroke victims with their eyes sewn shut.

Costume Design

Atonement
Sweeney Todd
Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
La Vie En Rose

More love for Sweeney Todd. But I think this statue is going to be won solely by that green dress from Atonement, which everyone is raving about.

Sound Mixing

No Country For Old Men
300
Transformers
Sweeney Todd
There Will Be Blood

Sound Editing

No Country For Old Men
There Will Be Blood
300
Atonement
Transformers

Never know how many to predict for these two- sometimes it’s three, sometimes five. I figure I’ll go with all ten to cover my bases- if they only nominate three out of the five I pick, I can say I was right! No Country has the guild nom, and is well done despite being mostly silent. There Will Be Blood is a sonic masterpiece, with the score interwoven so well into the proceedings that it’s as rich as any musical in depth. Atonement fills out the editing for the war scenes, as that category loves war. I could be way off here, more than any other categories, but it’s worth a shot.

Original Score

Dario Marainelli- Atonement
Johnny Greenwood- There Will Be Blood
Alberto Iglesias- The Kite Runner
Howard Shore- Eastern Promises
Brook/King/Vedder- Into the Wild

Greenwood has to get a nod. He just has to. Marinelli is the prohibitive favorite, but Greenwood’s score is far and away the best accompaniment to its film.

Original Song

“Do You Feel Me” from American Gangster
“That’s How You Know” from Enchanted
“Guaranteed” from Into the Wild
“Falling Slowly” from Once
“Walk Hard” from Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story

Another impossible category, but I’m putting my money on “Falling Slowly” sticking in the minds of anyone who saw Once- hands down the best song in a film this year. Otherwise, Disney’s rep for original songs will get the one from Enchanted on the list, the Eddie Vedder song just won the Globe, and the Oscars usually have an oddball choice (like “Blame Canada” from the South Park Movie).

(Totals: There Will Be Blood- 10, No Country For Old Men- 9, Atonement- 9, Michael Clayton- 7, Diving Bell- 6, Sweeney Todd- 6, Into the Wild- 6, Transformers/300- 3.)

Handicapping the Best Picture Race

Later, Dave and I will be posting predictions for 20 out of 24 Oscar categories (the short films being impossible for anybody, and foreign being crazy obscure this year). For now, these are my thoughts on what to do with Best Picture, which just got a whole lot murkier with Atonement's Golden Globe Win.

The Eat My Hat with A-1 Sauce Lock

No Country For Old Men

The Coen Brothers' masterpiece looks completely unstoppable. Virtually every guild has nominated it, even technical ones like sound mixing and art direction, which points to a sure-bet nomination. There's no question in my mind about this one.

The Proven Contenders

There Will Be Blood

Michael Clayton

Both are looking like pretty safe bets, winning Guild nominations from pretty big indicators like the Director's, Editor's, and Producer's. And they have the numbers one and two candidates for Best Actor, which makes them hard to overlook (Day Lewis leads Clooney by a whole, whole bunch though.)

So that's three pictures on my list. The rest is.. up in the air, to say the least. We've got five movies for two slots, so let's break them down one by one. We'll go alphabetically, to be fair.

Atonement

It's good to remember that the Hollywood Foreign Press Association is actually only about a 90 member group. And any member can block the induction of a new one, for any reason, so it's a very odd, exclusive club of people from all over the world. And with the Globe awards themselves robbed of any glamor and ad revenue, and no opportunity for the winners to bask in the speeches and publicity of a victory, Atonement's Best Drama win doesn't seem like it guarantees anything.

The real reason I'm not sure about Atonement, though, is because Joe Wright and company have no Guild support. At all- the director's snubbed them, the producer's left them off, the actors, the editors- just Art Direction and Cinematography. But, the names of all of these guilds end with "...Of America," so it's the foreign members of AMPAS that I think can get this film nominated.

The BAFTAs, the British Oscars, announce nominees tonight (around 3AM EST), and if Atonement leads the field there, I'll have to add it to my five.

The Diving Bell and The Butterfly

I wish I had seen this already. I almost drove to Chicago last weekend, just because it's playing there now, and not in Milwaukee until Febuary 1st. So I'll have to make my Oscar Predictions blind. Either way, it keeps gaining steam in the awards circle- could it be this year's Letters From Iwo Jima?

The Producer's liked it (more than Atonement), the Director's Guild, the Writer's Guild, the Editors and Cinematographers. Julian Schnabel even upended the Coens at the Globes for Best Director. Does this mean it'll edge something else out? Or will will Schnabel's nomination be it's reward?

Into the Wild

This film also puzzles me (I also still haven't seen it, because I just never got up the enthusiasm.) It's got all the Guild Awards that Atonement is missing (Directors, Editing, Writers), but the Producers left it off, and so did the Golden Globes. And I know they're a small group, but they nominated seven movies for Best Drama and not this one. Wha?

But then, Into the Wild and No Country are the only two films of all these to get a Screen Actor's Guild nomination, and actors are the largest voting block of the Academy. So the case for this is strong. I mean, the SAG nominees are never five for five right, but they're never one for five, either.

Juno

Another head scratcher- Producer's Guild yes, Writer's Guild yes, but it loses the Comedy or Musical GG? Will it live up to the way-too-numerous Little Miss Sunshine comparisons and get nominated, or will it only get the Original Screenplay statue it's sure to win? Can a film whose director is completely overshadowed by the film's screenwriter and star (heck, I've even read more about the hamburger phone than Reitman) really score a Best Picture nod?

Some sort of intuition tells me it'll make the field of five for the sake of variety, since it's far different than most of the other front runners in tone, and it's the most commercially succesfull out of all of them. Maybe it pushes out Into the Wild?

Sweeney Todd

Another film in the Atonement boat, with absolutely no love until the Globes win. Does that really mean it gets into the BP race? Without a probable large foreign support, I think not. I can't see this overcoming the multiple snubs of Tim Burton in directing races, and Depp in acting races (at least ones without "Musical or Comedy" categories) to be a strong contender.

For the record, this means I consider other things like American Gangster, 3:10 to Yuma, and Charlie Wilson's War dead in the water, and not worth breaking down. We'll see what happens when I'm forced to make concrete predictions soon.

Links-

Producer's Guild Nominees
Screen Actor's Guild Nominees
Writer's Guild Nominees
Editor's Guild Nominees
Art Director's Guild Nominees
Cinematography Society's nominees
Cinema Audio Society Nominees
Golden Globe Nominees/Results
BAFTAs Home

Golden Globe Musings

Atonement wins Best Picture – Drama: Not overly surprising, but a little bit because No Country for Old Men was establishing itself as a juggernaut. I think this bodes well for Atonement because it secures it a Best Picture nomination, as people were questioning whether it would even receive a nomination. I think when the Academy Awards rolls around; No Country for Old Men will emerge victorious.

Sweeney Todd wins Best Picture – Musical or Comedy: I have seen the two front-runners – Sweeney Todd and Juno – and always remained steadfast that Sweeney Todd should win. Similar to Atonement, I feel that this will secure a Best Picture nomination for it. Tim Burton’s musical falls into the same vein as Chicago, but I do not think it will have the legs to win Best Picture.

Daniel Day-Lewis wins Best Actor – Drama: His acceptance speech would have been four words: “I DRINK YOUR MILKSHAKE!” An easy choice and no surprise here.

Julie Christie wins Best Actress – Drama: I have not seen Away from Her, but I am told that Christie is stellar. She has received a lot praise and has won a few awards along the way already.

Johnny Depp wins Best Actor – Musical or Comedy: Similar to Day-Lewis, this is no surprise and Day-Lewis and Depp are the clear front-runners for the Oscars, with Day-Lewis having the significant edge right now.

Marie Cotillard wins Best Actress – Musical or Comedy: Like Away from Her, I have not seen La Vie en Rose, but I am not surprised that Cotillard won. While the movie may not have had excellent box office returns in America, it has a foreign audience and her turn is supposed to be spectacular. I thought that Ellen Page would have won for Juno because the Golden Globes like to reward younger talent, but she does have a bright future.

Javier Bardem wins Best Supporting Actor: Really? What hasn’t he won?

Cate Blanchett wins Best Supporting Actress: I figured Blanchett to be the long shot in this category. Roberts is beloved by the Hollywood Foreign Press, Tilda Swinton is heralded for all her work, Saoirse Ronan is the young talent, and Amy Ryan has won the most critic’s awards so far. This surprised me, but I would not expect a similar surprise at the Academy Awards.

Julian Schnabel wins Best Director: This was the hardest category to figure out. Burton, the Coen Brothers, and Ridley Scott are all veterans that the Hollywood Foreign Press enjoys, while Schnabel and Wright are newer filmmakers. I thought Scott had a great chance to win this award, but as a courtesy for his entire career. I think that the Coen Brothers may have lost some votes as the voters may have seen it as two different people, even though the Coens are incredibly idiosyncratic. Schnabel may have been rewarded because The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is getting no other love, but I would not regard this as a fluke. Schnabel will get an Oscar nomination.

No Country for Old Men wins Best Screenplay: A little surprising that it beat Juno because the dialogue is lifted from an articulate novel with a lot of speaking / thought process.

Atonement wins Best Score: Another easy choice. Watch out for There Will Be Blood though…

Ratatouille wins Best Animated Feature: No surprise here either. I think the Disney film could have encountered a problem if Persepolis was nominated.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly wins Best Foreign Language Film: This is not surprising either.

Random Musings:

• I liked the brevity, though the speeches can be entertaining sometimes.
• More importantly, who was the male co-host? Sweet mother of mercy put that man out of his misery. The man was jumbled in his speech, continually called television shows “films,” and his analysis was horrid. When making comparisons to the Burton-Depp collaboration success over the years, the best pairing he could come up with was Di Caprio-Scorsese? What!? That is the best that he could do? It was ridiculous. Banish him to the far reaches of the globe and tell him to run along and play and never come back.
• James McAvoy’s clip from Atonement didn't even really feature him as the focus, which is a shame.

Trailer Report: There Will Be Blood, Persepolis, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

At Milwaukee's prestige Oriental, I got a trifecta of trailers for movies I am really, really excited about, in front of an awesome, awesome, film: No Country For Old Men. It made for a complete film-going experience.

There Will Be Blood



Oh man. Daniel Day-Lewis makes it count. This movie on paper- a period piece based on Upton Sinclair's book "Oil!" directed by P. T. Anderson, with music by Radiohead's guitarist- sounds sort of odd. But DDL in this trailer is cooler than the other side of the pillow.

Who else can act so much with a pause, when he says: "I can't keep doing this on my own with these...people."

Persepolis



When people saw Pixar return to form with Ratatouille this year, they naturally assumed yet another "Best Animated Feature" Oscar was in the cards.

Now? Not so much. Enter Persepolis, a film based on the best-selling graphic novels by co-director Marjane Satrapi that tell her life story. It looks delightful, and refreshing different than most of the animated fare from this country.

That being said, it sort of floors me that France chose it as their official entry for the "Best Foreign Film" Oscar, because that means there's no chance for this next film to win it.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly




I'm not familiar with the other films of Julian Schnabel, but this film looks transcendent.

It may just be a case of a perfectly cut trailer- this one even has three distinct acts to it, perfectly set to three different snippets of music. The raucous wildlife of "Chains of Love" by the Dirtbombs, then the indie rock rush of "Don't Kiss Me" by Ultra Orange & Emmanuelle, and finally the wistful "Your Hand in Mine" by Explosions in the Sky (music originally from the Friday Night Lights soundtrack, but it instantly sounds more meaningful in this trailer).

In any case, just thinking too long about the true story this movie is based on is enough to summon deep emotion, and a phenomenal trailer has me itching to experience this film.