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"The diving bell and the butterfly" - movie review


“You are totally paralysed” the doctor continues “by now you must have realised that you cannot speak” . Movie begins with the patient’s hope of resuscitation, through his eyes; we are shown the doctors and nurses treating him. The patient feels the words but cannot actually speak them. The atmosphere of the hospital, the sheer casualness of the doctor when he decides to sew up the patient’s right eye, beautiful lass- nurse- confessing to the patient that it was her first serious job- render the movie an air of cordiality and affection. Seen from the eyes of the patient, it is ironic that we, the viewers feel that way. Movie's impression on its viewers is not that of melancholy, but of purposefulness, a sort of expectation of something indescribable.

It gets even better, with the two gorgeous nurses teaching him how to speak and swallow. Patient’s constant agitation of the situation he is in, and the brief moments of romantic past flashing before his eyes. Movie shuttles between the patient’s past glamorous life and the present invalid state effortlessly. The meeting place, pure emptiness, of nothing whatever to say, all the visitors pity him to the extent that they avoid making an eye contact. Patient’s vision is blurred, appetite for life stultified, remonstrance of his past life-paralysis does not sadden him as much as make him more and more conscious of his own self.

Very few shots of the patient himself, brief flashes, but that’s all there is. Movie is entirely from the eyes of the patient. Visitors tell him stories from the outside, the beautiful lass- nurse- adores him, so much so that she gets upset when he communicates for the first time- “I want to die”. He manages to communicate with his eye, a wink- one wink ‘yes’ and a two ‘no’- over a painfully slow recital of letters by his nurse.

A fly bothering the patient, and his absolute helplessness with the fly that is inching into his nostrils; shots like these are rouged aesthetically with the nurses around to help him all the time. Voiceover is poetic, enthralling, speaks of imaginative disposition of the patient. By his own admission, he feels like an underwater diver with heavy metallic weights pulling him down. There is a point of seizure in such a traumatic case, but this patient is a man of humour.

He imagines people all over the world praying for him to get well, he feels a desire for his wife when they are sitting by the beach and in the wind her skimpy frock undulates. Movie is powerfully narrated, the visuals are enticing. Towards the end of his life, call from his father who reassures him that they are both locked in; another form his girlfriend who confesses that she could not dare visit him. His friends, children who sing songs for him as he winks and winks tirelessly. He lasts to see his book finished and even reads the reviews of it.

Movie is poignant; it is like an admirable portrait by an artist. Only, this artist in question, is an invalid.
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