THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY (2008), Julian Schnabel
Dear All,
Please don't forget to read the (extremely short) excerpts from Walter Murch's In the Blink of an Eye, available on reserve at Elizabeth Dafoe circulation desk, for Tuesday's class. Thanks.
32 comments:
Anonymous
said...
I really enjoyed The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, I thought it was beautifully done. There are a number of shots that moved me including the opening sequence when we are seeing the world from Jean-Dominique's point of view as it orients the viewer into his world and the world of the film. However the shot that moved me most was a close up of Jean-Do's father in his apartment on the phone with his son. This was the first time that we really see someone close to Jean-Do reacting to what has happened and I found this quiet shot of his visibly distraught father very moving. I think the shot and the conversation between Jean-Do (obviously through Claude) is really about the saying that parents should never die before their children. His father is 92 and ill but still his 42 year old son is somehow infinitely worse off and there is nothing he can do, this shot shows how truly distraught his father is and most likely mirrors some of the frustration and grief that Jean-Do is feeling as well.
This movie has many distinct shots that exhibit a unique style and treatment of the movie. But many of these shots are more effective collectively as a scene or a sequence. So I am going to pick up a shot that stands up on its own.
It is slightly low-angle long shot (probably one of the first long shots of the movie) that involves the protagonist (Bauby) and the speech therapist (Henriette). Both characters are sitting in an open area within the hospital premises facing each other, Bauby on the left side and Henriette on the right. The shot employs an omniscient view of both characters in the middle ground. We see Henriette sitting near a building which is partly visible in the far right side of the frame. We also see a big portion of the hospital building blocks in the background and the building blocks seem to divide the screen horizontally in two parts. The upper-half of the frame contains a clock-tower in the left side of the frame surrounded by a large blue sky in the back ground, while Bauby and Henriette are in the lower-half of the frame. The angle of the shot and the wheelchair make Bauby look elevated in the middle ground while create a sharp contrast with the blue sky, clock-tower and building blocks in the background.
This shot serve as a transient shot in the movie in all possible ways. Most previous shots in the movie were close-up -POV shots from the point of view of Bauby. This is the first (or one of the first) omniscient view shot where we see the right part of Bauby’s body which is completely paralyzed. At the same time, we are also disclosed an important fact about the protagonist (through the diagetic voice-over). The only things still function properly in his body is his mind and the left-eye. The large open sky symbolizes his mind which is still functional (as opposed to his body).All the following shots in the movie would frequently employ the techniques that have not been used so far in the movie (omniscient view shots, dolly shots, dutch-angle shots etc). It is the first outdoor shot with lot of natural light compare to all previous (and subsequent) shots which are darker, shadowy and mostly indoor.
The shot that moved me the most was at the very beginning of the movie when Jean-Dominique is just waking up from his coma. It's the shot of the big vase of red roses sitting at his hospital room window. There is an intensely bright light, which is the sun, that’s beaming through his window. There is also a light breeze, because the thin white curtain is flapping to the breeze (if I remember correctly, it was in slow motion). I liked this shot because it's a very calm and peaceful shot, and I think one of a kind in this movie. To me, this represents the rest of the movie because the audience basically watches from Jean-Dominique's point of view. The majority of this movie is in Jean-Dominique’s point of view, and we really only see what he sees. You can even say that his one eye is the "window" to which we see his story; his point of view.
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly was really good. I thought that it was just a very well made movie from a very interesting perspective.
It was interesting to see the bad guy from the latest James Bond film acting outside the realm of just a stereotypical Bond bad guy.
None the less, the shot that I found was really amazing was after Jean-Do had just finished shaving his father and their looking into each others eyes. The shot is taken from a low angle and has a slightly handheld effect to it. The shot is composed of Jean-Do's father on the left and Jean-Do on the right. In between them are all artistic photographs of Jean-Do and I found this interesting because it just shows the gap between what they were experiencing at the time and how back before Jean-Do's accident, they had a hard time emotional relating to one another.
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is one of the stronger films we’ve watched this semester; fantastic camerawork and very touching.
The shot that stood out for took place during the middle of the film when Henriette was taking words from Jean-Do and he asks for death. It was heartbreaking for Henriette since she has been working so hard to make his life pleasant. She becomes angry and storms out only to return and apologize. I just found the scene moving and liked how it touched on whether or not it is selfish for one to desire death at the expense of their loved ones.
There are many shots in Julian Schnabel's "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" that I enjoyed. I especially appreciated the editing used to make Jean-Dominique's P.O.V shots mimic what his eyes would be seeing, including blurry and out of focus vision. However, the shot I found the most intriguing is the shot when Jean-Dominique is sitting in his wheelchair perched on top of a pier-like structure. This is a long shot and Jean-Dominique is placed in the center of the foreground in the frame. Below him is the crashing waves of the ocean and above and behind him is the clear, blue sky.
I found this shot striking for a number of reasons. First and foremost, the shot itself looks stunning and beautiful. Secondly, I think this shot represents the power and freedom that Jean-Dominique once had, as well as his loneliness and isolation. He is elevated far above the water, signifying the power that he once had. Likewise, however, the fact that he is elevated, alone, and surrounded by nature, shows that even if he was once viewed on a pedestal above others, he is now a lonely, disabled man. He appears very isolated too because there is no visible connection from the pier (I don't know the proper name of the structure he is on, yet piers, by definition, are connected to land) to land, which begs the question, "how the hell did he get there?"
This is one of my favorite films I've seen this term. I enjoyed every minute of it.
P.S. At first, recognizing the actor playing Jean-Dominique as the main antagonist from "Quantum of Solace", I didn't see how he could play such an emotional role. It was well done though.
The shot that moved me was during the flashback sequence where Jean-Do shaves his father. At one point he has his hand on his father's neck, the razor pressed to his throat. The hand is in the lower left-hand side of the screen, and Bauby is in the upper right, looming over his helpless father.
The contrast between his casual disregard for his father's vulnerability and his eventual complete dependence on others, mostly strangers, is a heartwrenching insight.
I think The diving bell and the butterfly has the most emotional captivation out of all other films watched in this course. The best shot out of the whole film is the shot where Jean-Do is shaving his father. To be more specific to which shot, it is when Jean-Do's father is looking in the mirror after the shave done by his son. Jean-Do is next to him on the right of the frame masked by a picture of himself smiling and leaning on his left hand. In this picture the smile is a stretched by his hand, which resembles Jean-Do's condition after his stroke. I think this was very captivating because it reflected the relationship between Jean-Do and Jean-Do's father. The sound effects of the shaving process, was so real, like I was there. This shot symbolizes the barrier of being old or disable becomes invisible because with a simple act like shaving your old man's beard can bring a smile to his face, even those who can't smile, smiles inside.
I really loved the shots that would cut to the underwater scene of him underwater in the diving suit.The water is all dark and murky, and he is just suspended in the air, not moving. All you can hear is the heavy breathing and heartbeat noises, even though he is screaming at the top of his lungs. I thought this illustrated how Jean-Do was feeling, completely isolated and cut off..what a terrible feeling to not be able to express yourself.
In contrast to that, I also loved the montage of butterfly and flower images. It was so refreshing to see all the bright beautiful colors and images. Despite everything, his soul still has bright happy spots. Now that he is able to express himself with the new alphabet thing he isn't so constrained. He can break out of his caccoon and transform into an entirely new person. The shots were all transposed over each other and provided us with the same sense of hope and creativity that Jean-Do is experiencing.
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly was a beautifly made film that on a whole moved me. I had heard great reviews for this movie and it deffinatly lived up to its hype. The shot that moved me relates to all of the metaphoric shots of Jean-Dominique in scuba gear under water, displaying his feelings of entrapment. The one shot that stood out the most for me is during the scene where Jean and his translator are on the boat. For the first time he is felt loved for not who he was, but who he now is. The scene cuts to a shot of Jean under water joined by the translator (i appologize i forget her name)and for the first time he is trapped, but not alone. I really enjoyed this film and can't wait to watch it again.
I thoroughly enjoyed this film, especially the visuals. I thought that in some aspects this film could be considered expressionist especially in terms of set decoration. Specifically I’m thinking of Jean-Dominique's hospital room. As soon as he regains consciousness we notice that the walls of his room are completely covered in pictures of family, friends and lovers, as well as paintings and drawings. These images are posted in a seemingly completely random manner. As Jean-Dominique states in the film, it’s his imagination and memory that will set him free from his diving bell. I see the image’s posted to the walls in his room as representing the material of which his memories and imagination are made of. We notice that every once in a while the P.O.V. shot will focus in on one of these random images for a second or two. I noticed these shots would usually coincide with one of his inner-monologues which dealt with the nature of his condition or his perceived failings in his personal relationships. When the P.O.V. would pan to the wall and then focus on one of the images, I saw that this was the movies way to let the viewer in on what characters or themes were connected to that specific inner-monologue.
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly was a good film, and the shot that stood out the most to me is one of the shots with the diving suit, where Jean Do is silently screaming, thrashing his head back and forth inside the diving suit. This shows very clearly just how he feels inside his body: trapped, unable to move, unable to be heard and hating every minute of it. Of course, his attitude turned towards acceptance of his fate later in the film, but I felt that this one shot helped convey his complete powerlessness, which is an important part of the film
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly was a very well done film. I particularly liked the imagery shots such as him trapped in a diving suit, the butterfly escaping from the cocoon, etc. In particular I liked the shot of rocks from the side of a cliff dismantling and shattering. This represents how his life as he knows is rapidly falling apart. At the end of the movie there is the same shot except it is played in reverse so it looks like the rock fragments are realigning with the rest of the cliff side. This could represent that with the creation of his book he recaptured what his life once was.
The shot that moved me in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly was right at the beginning, when Jean-Dominique first awoke from his coma. The film did a great job of disorientating the audience, but not so much that the experience seemed forced or unbelievable. The blurring of the lens and frantic movements of the camera, to me, illustrated the situation very well. I also really liked the way the film just started so abruptly with Jean-Dominique just waking up and being immediately in a state of confusion. I’ll admit, I was a little apprehensive about watching another French film after the one last week, but this film certainly did not disappoint me. In fact, I thought it was amazing.
I really loved this movie. I loved it because every shot is emotional, each shot has such depth and character that each shot continuously enriched the movie. Another reason i loved this movie was even though the events were so depressing Jean-Do was able to remain himself and make jokes or still remain the womanizer he is even though he could not talk or move.
The sequence of shots that moved me the most is the sequence revealing the valley while he is on the road trip with his girlfriend. The shot pans across a large valley, then reveals Jean-Do's girlfriend. The way that the shot moves gives the impression that it is from Jean-Do's point of view. The director is able to expresses that this shot is a memory of Jean-Do through the use of warm sepia hue across the screen.
Another shot that moved me is part of the same shot as before. It is when Jean-Do is in the car driving down the highway, the camera is positioned behind his girlfriend. The reason I liked this shot was because of the way that Jean-Do's girlfriend's hair blew in front of the camera, this shot made me feel as if I was riding in the car with them. It made me forget that I was watching a movie, which is the point of a movie to make you forget that you are watching one.
The shot that moved me was when the speech therapist first starts trying to create a source of communication pathway using the alphabet and the 1 blink or 2 blinks from Jean-Dominique. Jean Dominique finally attempts it and the therapist feels insulted as she is so set on helping him. She became so emotional it just moved me how someone who barely even knew him cared so much for him, you just don’t see that these days.
This particular movie was one of my favourite films we have been shown this semester. It beautifully portrayed the life of an unscathed mind wrapped in a broken body. I really enjoyed the interesting camera techniques (ie. from Jean Do's perspective, etc). Also it had interesting bridge scenes; like the memory scenes or the diving bell shots.
However the shot that moved me was actually the opening shot. When the camera was blurry and the sounds distorted to mimic Jean's awakening. It moved me because it was very accurate as to how the awakening would have been if it really happened. I can vouch for the sincerity because it brought me back to when I had awoken from a life saving surgery a few years ago. The blurry sounds and visuals were bang on. So it was an emotional memory that, that shot brought to me. Thus it moved me.
I absolutely loved every minute of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. The opening sequence was what stood out most for me. I loved the director’s use of techniques such as making the screen shift focus between blurry and clear to represent Jean-Dominique’s impaired eyesight. To narrow it down, the shot that moved me most was when Jean-Do was receiving the news about his condition and says, “This is life?” while the camera wildly pans back and forth across the screen around Jean-Do’s hospital room. This shot showed his desperation and frustration at being trapped in his own body, unable to communicate his feelings to anyone. By showing this sequence from Jean-Do’s point of view, we are able to fully connect and empathize with him. We experience his pain, confusion, and frustration in not understanding what has happened, who the people in the room are, where he is, and what will happen to him.
"The Diving bell and the butterfly" was one of my favorite films we've seen on the course. The shot that moved me was the one where Jean-Do is at the beach in some kind of pier away from the coast, he is on his wheelchair looking at the ocean. The extreme long shot shows Jean-Do in the middle of the frame, the shot doesn't last more than a few seconds and there's no one else in the shot but Jean-Do. It clearly shows how lonely Jean-Do feels.
The shot that moved me would be the shot in where he just first started to learn about his current predicaments. It is where he was just talking to someone about life and he says, "this is life?" and then the camera tilts up to look at all the dextrose tubes connected to him.
That shot was moving and so comedic because he feels that his current situation would not be called living. The camera movement, angle and everything was set-up to have his POV which made the whole shot really moving and really convincing that it was actually real.
I personally thought the shot of the plunging ice slabs to be the most moving because it resembled the “sunken” or “submerged” ambitions of Jean Dominique. A calm piano melody plays in the background while shots of large ice blocks plunge slowly into the water. Additionally included in these quick shots of melting glaciers is the voice of Jean Dominique explaining his failed opportunities, the happiness, and the women he was unable to love. Although, all of Jean Dominique’s ambitions would come true because his failed opportunities coincide with the publication of his book, the happiness of Jean Dominique’s children made himself happy; and being loved by his children’s mother Celine. On top of that Jean Dominique’s memorable flashbacks and pictures of breathtaking moments have shown his life experiences where others would desire. In the end, Jean Dominique may or may not have been able to recognize his achieved desires, but for certain the audience is reminded of the achieved ambitions due to the ending shot of the rewinding ice slabs piecing together as one.
The shot that moved me the most in "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" is an extreme long shot of Jean-Dominique and his nurse sitting on top of a building. Because we watched so many extreme close-up shot at the begining of the movie, I felt a peace and fresh in this stable and queit shot. The extreme close-up shot works really well in this movie. It was very interesting to see a world from someone's point of view.
I was very pleased with this movie. I thought that it was beautifully done and a pleasant change from last week's film. I think that one of the shots that I found to be very well done was in the scene where Jean was waking from his coma. This really sets the stage for how his story will be told, and it is his story. The shot is taken from Jean's POV and the way the eye of the camera acts makes us feel like we are looking out through Jean's eyes. It's hard to focus and the light is too much so we (jean) must be constantly blinking. We immediately sympathize with him because the director has literally put us into his shoes and for the most part we will be in them for the rest of the film.
i really enjoyed the editing of this moive. blurs, camera movement and framing really does explains that Jean-Dominique's condition visually, also, I like the comparsion of The Diving bell and the Butterfly, as we can tell form the editing style of the moive, a cut or a sence of extreme close-up will always be followed with a cut or sence of wide-angle landscape, the close-up repersents Jean-Dominique's phycial condition, which like being locked in a diving bell, the landscape repersents his spiritual world, like a butterfly flying around freely.
the shot that i enjoyed the most have to be the one on the beach, where Jean-Dominique and his family are celebrating father's day. again those three kids playing on the beach repersents Bauby's spiritual world, the comparion Bauby's body and his spirit I think is first time showing in one shot.
The shot that i found most moving was the ones in which he is seen underwater in the diving suit.The diving suit looks large and quite clunky, as if it were to hold him down and keep him isolated from the rest of the world (which is exactly what the locked in syndrome is doing).These shots are important as they give a look into a second more metaphorical aspect to this film, one filled with bright blue coloring that attracts the eye immediatly. I think this portrays perfectly the feelings that are occuring inside Jean-Dominiques mind. He was once on top of the world but is now drowning in the dreams he had once created.
I really enjoyed this movie and the shot that or shots that I enjoyed the most were those that were at the very beginning of the movie. This shot was taken from Jean-Do's point of view. It was interesting to see through someones elses eyes in the exact way they are seeing the world. When we see the blurred camera and hear Jean-Do trying to speak but not being heard, it really helps to understand the frustration and pain that he is going through.
I loved the artistic style and camera work in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. The point of view shots kept me engaged, and the imagination of Jean-Dominique was interestingly portrayed through small sequences and shots throughout the film.
One of my favorite shots in the film was when Jean-Dominique, Céline and his children are at the beach for Father's Day. From the point of view of Jean-Dominique, we see a close-up of Céline, in the right side of the frame looking straight into the camera, as she recites the alphabet to him. His children play in the distance to the far left of the frame. This shot makes us sympathize with Jean-Dominique even more, because we see how much time and patience it takes for him to simply communicate, which is especially difficult while he has to watch his children enjoy physical activity.
There were many shots in the 2008 film, "The Diving Bell and The Butterfly" that I found to be moving. The fisrt shot was in the opening scene in which we are given the perspective of Jean-Dominique as he awakes from a three week coma. The blurred vision and heavy breathing give the audience a feeling of being in Jean-Do's condition. It was frustrating to sit and watch the doctors move in and out of the frame as well as the close-ups on their eyes so that Jean-Do could see them. It was also frustrating for me as he could understand but not speak, which is in turn what he must go through for the rest of his life.
Another shot that I found to be quite interesting as well as important to the meaning of the film itself was the shot in which Jean-Do is 'trapped' inside a diving suit. He is shown, suspended from a rope as he floats down, deeper into the dark ocean. I felt that the main purpose of this shot is to portray what exactly Jean-Do feels like in his condition and it really does help to explain as it is hard to imagine what it is really like. The shot is at a long distance away and occasionally a high angle shot is shown.
Another shot that I found interesting was the close-ups on the drawings and photographs that lined the walls in Jean-Do's hospital room. The pictures were shown to Jean-Do's heavy breathing and heart beats in the background. Another shot in the film that was moving was the shot in which Jean-Do is placed in front of a trophy case at the end of a hallway. Jean-Do sees his relfection in the glass and then begins to imagine a woman in a large gown behind him. His fantasy continues as he stands up with little help and kisses the women. The shot in which I found most interesting though, was the one right at the end of his dream, when the woman behind him fades into one of his nurses and he comes back to present time.
This film was heart-warming and overall very well done.
In my opinion, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, is one of the most impressive films we have watched.
The shot or the sequence of shots that stood out to me, was the opening shots of the film. The director's choice of how to shoot this was great. By using a point of view shot, we are put into the body of the main character. We are experiencing the event and learning things as he does. The camera's lack of focus, and fading in and out of the camera give a great illusion of his blurred vision and struggle to keep his eyes open. The sound also adds to the uneasy feeling of the shot. The heavy breathing and muffled voices of doctors is almost unbearable. All of these elements combined with the low angle shot, looking up at all these strange people around him makes the feeling of helplessness overwhelming.
This shot was a great opener to the movie, and just the first struggle of many that Jean-Do had to endure.
It`s hard to find one single shot that moved me in this amazing film, I could name easily three shots that made me have goosebumps. I`ll just mention one of them to keep it short. The sequence where Jean-Do is in the ambulance, after being diagnosed with pneumonia. Schnabel captured the emotion of fear, imprisonment and sorrow. The editing had a good part to do with it, since it made possible for us to have the sensation of what was going on inside that ambulance, with the lights and the images of the city around it. The world keeps spinning, but that man is still trapped in his own body. We don`t quite know if he is gonna make it, but we somehow get in touch with his feelings.
I really liked this film by Julian Schnabel. It was very marvously done from start to finish. Distinct shots, the opening sequence was amazing and the over all unique style of the movie had an awesome effect throughout the entire film. It was timed, spaced and featured perfectly. There are many positives I could say about this film, so overall the -entire- film moved me, I do believe it was my favorite thus far. Great film.
32 comments:
I really enjoyed The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, I thought it was beautifully done. There are a number of shots that moved me including the opening sequence when we are seeing the world from Jean-Dominique's point of view as it orients the viewer into his world and the world of the film. However the shot that moved me most was a close up of Jean-Do's father in his apartment on the phone with his son. This was the first time that we really see someone close to Jean-Do reacting to what has happened and I found this quiet shot of his visibly distraught father very moving. I think the shot and the conversation between Jean-Do (obviously through Claude) is really about the saying that parents should never die before their children. His father is 92 and ill but still his 42 year old son is somehow infinitely worse off and there is nothing he can do, this shot shows how truly distraught his father is and most likely mirrors some of the frustration and grief that Jean-Do is feeling as well.
This movie has many distinct shots that exhibit a unique style and treatment of the movie. But many of these shots are more effective collectively as a scene or a sequence. So I am going to pick up a shot that stands up on its own.
It is slightly low-angle long shot (probably one of the first long shots of the movie) that involves the protagonist (Bauby) and the speech therapist (Henriette). Both characters are sitting in an open area within the hospital premises facing each other, Bauby on the left side and Henriette on the right. The shot employs an omniscient view of both characters in the middle ground. We see Henriette sitting near a building which is partly visible in the far right side of the frame. We also see a big portion of the hospital building blocks in the background and the building blocks seem to divide the screen horizontally in two parts. The upper-half of the frame contains a clock-tower in the left side of the frame surrounded by a large blue sky in the back ground, while Bauby and Henriette are in the lower-half of the frame. The angle of the shot and the wheelchair make Bauby look elevated in the middle ground while create a sharp contrast with the blue sky, clock-tower and building blocks in the background.
This shot serve as a transient shot in the movie in all possible ways. Most previous shots in the movie were close-up -POV shots from the point of view of Bauby. This is the first (or one of the first) omniscient view shot where we see the right part of Bauby’s body which is completely paralyzed. At the same time, we are also disclosed an important fact about the protagonist (through the diagetic voice-over). The only things still function properly in his body is his mind and the left-eye. The large open sky symbolizes his mind which is still functional (as opposed to his body).All the following shots in the movie would frequently employ the techniques that have not been used so far in the movie (omniscient view shots, dolly shots, dutch-angle shots etc). It is the first outdoor shot with lot of natural light compare to all previous (and subsequent) shots which are darker, shadowy and mostly indoor.
The shot that moved me the most was at the very beginning of the movie when Jean-Dominique is just waking up from his coma. It's the shot of the big vase of red roses sitting at his hospital room window. There is an intensely bright light, which is the sun, that’s beaming through his window. There is also a light breeze, because the thin white curtain is flapping to the breeze (if I remember correctly, it was in slow motion). I liked this shot because it's a very calm and peaceful shot, and I think one of a kind in this movie. To me, this represents the rest of the movie because the audience basically watches from Jean-Dominique's point of view. The majority of this movie is in Jean-Dominique’s point of view, and we really only see what he sees. You can even say that his one eye is the "window" to which we see his story; his point of view.
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly was really good. I thought that it was just a very well made movie from a very interesting perspective.
It was interesting to see the bad guy from the latest James Bond film acting outside the realm of just a stereotypical Bond bad guy.
None the less, the shot that I found was really amazing was after Jean-Do had just finished shaving his father and their looking into each others eyes. The shot is taken from a low angle and has a slightly handheld effect to it. The shot is composed of Jean-Do's father on the left and Jean-Do on the right. In between them are all artistic photographs of Jean-Do and I found this interesting because it just shows the gap between what they were experiencing at the time and how back before Jean-Do's accident, they had a hard time emotional relating to one another.
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is one of the stronger films we’ve watched this semester; fantastic camerawork and very touching.
The shot that stood out for took place during the middle of the film when Henriette was taking words from Jean-Do and he asks for death. It was heartbreaking for Henriette since she has been working so hard to make his life pleasant. She becomes angry and storms out only to return and apologize. I just found the scene moving and liked how it touched on whether or not it is selfish for one to desire death at the expense of their loved ones.
There are many shots in Julian Schnabel's "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" that I enjoyed. I especially appreciated the editing used to make Jean-Dominique's P.O.V shots mimic what his eyes would be seeing, including blurry and out of focus vision. However, the shot I found the most intriguing is the shot when Jean-Dominique is sitting in his wheelchair perched on top of a pier-like structure. This is a long shot and Jean-Dominique is placed in the center of the foreground in the frame. Below him is the crashing waves of the ocean and above and behind him is the clear, blue sky.
I found this shot striking for a number of reasons. First and foremost, the shot itself looks stunning and beautiful. Secondly, I think this shot represents the power and freedom that Jean-Dominique once had, as well as his loneliness and isolation. He is elevated far above the water, signifying the power that he once had. Likewise, however, the fact that he is elevated, alone, and surrounded by nature, shows that even if he was once viewed on a pedestal above others, he is now a lonely, disabled man. He appears very isolated too because there is no visible connection from the pier (I don't know the proper name of the structure he is on, yet piers, by definition, are connected to land) to land, which begs the question, "how the hell did he get there?"
This is one of my favorite films I've seen this term. I enjoyed every minute of it.
P.S. At first, recognizing the actor playing Jean-Dominique as the main antagonist from "Quantum of Solace", I didn't see how he could play such an emotional role. It was well done though.
The shot that moved me was during the flashback sequence where Jean-Do shaves his father. At one point he has his hand on his father's neck, the razor pressed to his throat. The hand is in the lower left-hand side of the screen, and Bauby is in the upper right, looming over his helpless father.
The contrast between his casual disregard for his father's vulnerability and his eventual complete dependence on others, mostly strangers, is a heartwrenching insight.
I think The diving bell and the butterfly has the most emotional captivation out of all other films watched in this course. The best shot out of the whole film is the shot where Jean-Do is shaving his father. To be more specific to which shot, it is when Jean-Do's father is looking in the mirror after the shave done by his son. Jean-Do is next to him on the right of the frame masked by a picture of himself smiling and leaning on his left hand. In this picture the smile is a stretched by his hand, which resembles Jean-Do's condition after his stroke. I think this was very captivating because it reflected the relationship between Jean-Do and Jean-Do's father. The sound effects of the shaving process, was so real, like I was there. This shot symbolizes the barrier of being old or disable becomes invisible because with a simple act like shaving your old man's beard can bring a smile to his face, even those who can't smile, smiles inside.
I really loved the shots that would cut to the underwater scene of him underwater in the diving suit.The water is all dark and murky, and he is just suspended in the air, not moving. All you can hear is the heavy breathing and heartbeat noises, even though he is screaming at the top of his lungs. I thought this illustrated how Jean-Do was feeling, completely isolated and cut off..what a terrible feeling to not be able to express yourself.
In contrast to that, I also loved the montage of butterfly and flower images. It was so refreshing to see all the bright beautiful colors and images. Despite everything, his soul still has bright happy spots. Now that he is able to express himself with the new alphabet thing he isn't so constrained. He can break out of his caccoon and transform into an entirely new person. The shots were all transposed over each other and provided us with the same sense of hope and creativity that Jean-Do is experiencing.
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly was a beautifly made film that on a whole moved me. I had heard great reviews for this movie and it deffinatly lived up to its hype. The shot that moved me relates to all of the metaphoric shots of Jean-Dominique in scuba gear under water, displaying his feelings of entrapment. The one shot that stood out the most for me is during the scene where Jean and his translator are on the boat. For the first time he is felt loved for not who he was, but who he now is. The scene cuts to a shot of Jean under water joined by the translator (i appologize i forget her name)and for the first time he is trapped, but not alone. I really enjoyed this film and can't wait to watch it again.
Adam Sawyer
I thoroughly enjoyed this film, especially the visuals. I thought that in some aspects this film could be considered expressionist especially in terms of set decoration. Specifically I’m thinking of Jean-Dominique's hospital room. As soon as he regains consciousness we notice that the walls of his room are completely covered in pictures of family, friends and lovers, as well as paintings and drawings. These images are posted in a seemingly completely random manner. As Jean-Dominique states in the film, it’s his imagination and memory that will set him free from his diving bell. I see the image’s posted to the walls in his room as representing the material of which his memories and imagination are made of. We notice that every once in a while the P.O.V. shot will focus in on one of these random images for a second or two. I noticed these shots would usually coincide with one of his inner-monologues which dealt with the nature of his condition or his perceived failings in his personal relationships. When the P.O.V. would pan to the wall and then focus on one of the images, I saw that this was the movies way to let the viewer in on what characters or themes were connected to that specific inner-monologue.
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly was a good film, and the shot that stood out the most to me is one of the shots with the diving suit, where Jean Do is silently screaming, thrashing his head back and forth inside the diving suit. This shows very clearly just how he feels inside his body: trapped, unable to move, unable to be heard and hating every minute of it. Of course, his attitude turned towards acceptance of his fate later in the film, but I felt that this one shot helped convey his complete powerlessness, which is an important part of the film
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly was a very well done film. I particularly liked the imagery shots such as him trapped in a diving suit, the butterfly escaping from the cocoon, etc. In particular I liked the shot of rocks from the side of a cliff dismantling and shattering. This represents how his life as he knows is rapidly falling apart. At the end of the movie there is the same shot except it is played in reverse so it looks like the rock fragments are realigning with the rest of the cliff side. This could represent that with the creation of his book he recaptured what his life once was.
The shot that moved me in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly was right at the beginning, when Jean-Dominique first awoke from his coma. The film did a great job of disorientating the audience, but not so much that the experience seemed forced or unbelievable. The blurring of the lens and frantic movements of the camera, to me, illustrated the situation very well. I also really liked the way the film just started so abruptly with Jean-Dominique just waking up and being immediately in a state of confusion. I’ll admit, I was a little apprehensive about watching another French film after the one last week, but this film certainly did not disappoint me. In fact, I thought it was amazing.
I really loved this movie. I loved it because every shot is emotional, each shot has such depth and character that each shot continuously enriched the movie. Another reason i loved this movie was even though the events were so depressing Jean-Do was able to remain himself and make jokes or still remain the womanizer he is even though he could not talk or move.
The sequence of shots that moved me the most is the sequence revealing the valley while he is on the road trip with his girlfriend. The shot pans across a large valley, then reveals Jean-Do's girlfriend. The way that the shot moves gives the impression that it is from Jean-Do's point of view. The director is able to expresses that this shot is a memory of Jean-Do through the use of warm sepia hue across the screen.
Another shot that moved me is part of the same shot as before. It is when Jean-Do is in the car driving down the highway, the camera is positioned behind his girlfriend. The reason I liked this shot was because of the way that Jean-Do's girlfriend's hair blew in front of the camera, this shot made me feel as if I was riding in the car with them. It made me forget that I was watching a movie, which is the point of a movie to make you forget that you are watching one.
The shot that moved me was when the speech therapist first starts trying to create a source of communication pathway using the alphabet and the 1 blink or 2 blinks from Jean-Dominique. Jean Dominique finally attempts it and the therapist feels insulted as she is so set on helping him. She became so emotional it just moved me how someone who barely even knew him cared so much for him, you just don’t see that these days.
This particular movie was one of my favourite films we have been shown this semester. It beautifully portrayed the life of an unscathed mind wrapped in a broken body. I really enjoyed the interesting camera techniques (ie. from Jean Do's perspective, etc). Also it had interesting bridge scenes; like the memory scenes or the diving bell shots.
However the shot that moved me was actually the opening shot. When the camera was blurry and the sounds distorted to mimic Jean's awakening. It moved me because it was very accurate as to how the awakening would have been if it really happened. I can vouch for the sincerity because it brought me back to when I had awoken from a life saving surgery a few years ago. The blurry sounds and visuals were bang on. So it was an emotional memory that, that shot brought to me. Thus it moved me.
Andrew Kleysen
I absolutely loved every minute of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. The opening sequence was what stood out most for me. I loved the director’s use of techniques such as making the screen shift focus between blurry and clear to represent Jean-Dominique’s impaired eyesight. To narrow it down, the shot that moved me most was when Jean-Do was receiving the news about his condition and says, “This is life?” while the camera wildly pans back and forth across the screen around Jean-Do’s hospital room. This shot showed his desperation and frustration at being trapped in his own body, unable to communicate his feelings to anyone. By showing this sequence from Jean-Do’s point of view, we are able to fully connect and empathize with him. We experience his pain, confusion, and frustration in not understanding what has happened, who the people in the room are, where he is, and what will happen to him.
"The Diving bell and the butterfly" was one of my favorite films we've seen on the course. The shot that moved me was the one where Jean-Do is at the beach in some kind of pier away from the coast, he is on his wheelchair looking at the ocean. The extreme long shot shows Jean-Do in the middle of the frame, the shot doesn't last more than a few seconds and there's no one else in the shot but Jean-Do. It clearly shows how lonely Jean-Do feels.
The shot that moved me would be the shot in where he just first started to learn about his current predicaments. It is where he was just talking to someone about life and he says, "this is life?" and then the camera tilts up to look at all the dextrose tubes connected to him.
That shot was moving and so comedic because he feels that his current situation would not be called living. The camera movement, angle and everything was set-up to have his POV which made the whole shot really moving and really convincing that it was actually real.
love that movie! great movie choice! :)
I personally thought the shot of the plunging ice slabs to be the most moving because it resembled the “sunken” or “submerged” ambitions of Jean Dominique. A calm piano melody plays in the background while shots of large ice blocks plunge slowly into the water. Additionally included in these quick shots of melting glaciers is the voice of Jean Dominique explaining his failed opportunities, the happiness, and the women he was unable to love. Although, all of Jean Dominique’s ambitions would come true because his failed opportunities coincide with the publication of his book, the happiness of Jean Dominique’s children made himself happy; and being loved by his children’s mother Celine. On top of that Jean Dominique’s memorable flashbacks and pictures of breathtaking moments have shown his life experiences where others would desire.
In the end, Jean Dominique may or may not have been able to recognize his achieved desires, but for certain the audience is reminded of the achieved ambitions due to the ending shot of the rewinding ice slabs piecing together as one.
The shot that moved me the most in "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" is an extreme long shot of Jean-Dominique and his nurse sitting on top of a building. Because we watched so many extreme close-up shot at the begining of the movie, I felt a peace and fresh in this stable and queit shot. The extreme close-up shot works really well in this movie. It was very interesting to see a world from someone's point of view.
Matthew Gilson said...
I was very pleased with this movie. I thought that it was beautifully done and a pleasant change from last week's film. I think that one of the shots that I found to be very well done was in the scene where Jean was waking from his coma. This really sets the stage for how his story will be told, and it is his story. The shot is taken from Jean's POV and the way the eye of the camera acts makes us feel like we are looking out through Jean's eyes. It's hard to focus and the light is too much so we (jean) must be constantly blinking. We immediately sympathize with him because the director has literally put us into his shoes and for the most part we will be in them for the rest of the film.
i really enjoyed the editing of this moive. blurs, camera movement and framing really does explains that Jean-Dominique's condition visually, also, I like the comparsion of The Diving bell and the Butterfly, as we can tell form the editing style of the moive, a cut or a sence of extreme close-up will always be followed with a cut or sence of wide-angle landscape, the close-up repersents Jean-Dominique's phycial condition, which like being locked in a diving bell, the landscape repersents his spiritual world, like a butterfly flying around freely.
the shot that i enjoyed the most have to be the one on the beach, where Jean-Dominique and his family are celebrating father's day. again those three kids playing on the beach repersents Bauby's spiritual world, the comparion Bauby's body and his spirit I think is first time showing in one shot.
The shot that i found most moving was the ones in which he is seen underwater in the diving suit.The diving suit looks large and quite clunky, as if it were to hold him down and keep him isolated from the rest of the world (which is exactly what the locked in syndrome is doing).These shots are important as they give a look into a second more metaphorical aspect to this film, one filled with bright blue coloring that attracts the eye immediatly. I think this portrays perfectly the feelings that are occuring inside Jean-Dominiques mind. He was once on top of the world but is now drowning in the dreams he had once created.
I really enjoyed this movie and the shot that or shots that I enjoyed the most were those that were at the very beginning of the movie. This shot was taken from Jean-Do's point of view. It was interesting to see through someones elses eyes in the exact way they are seeing the world. When we see the blurred camera and hear Jean-Do trying to speak but not being heard, it really helps to understand the frustration and pain that he is going through.
I loved the artistic style and camera work in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. The point of view shots kept me engaged, and the imagination of Jean-Dominique was interestingly portrayed through small sequences and shots throughout the film.
One of my favorite shots in the film was when Jean-Dominique, Céline and his children are
at the beach for Father's Day. From the point of view of Jean-Dominique, we see a close-up
of Céline, in the right side of the frame looking straight into the camera, as she recites the alphabet to him. His children play in the distance to the far left of the frame. This shot makes us sympathize with Jean-Dominique even more, because we see how much time and patience it takes for him to simply communicate, which is especially difficult while he has to watch his children enjoy physical activity.
There were many shots in the 2008 film, "The Diving Bell and The Butterfly" that I found to be moving. The fisrt shot was in the opening scene in which we are given the perspective of Jean-Dominique as he awakes from a three week coma. The blurred vision and heavy breathing give the audience a feeling of being in Jean-Do's condition. It was frustrating to sit and watch the doctors move in and out of the frame as well as the close-ups on their eyes so that Jean-Do could see them. It was also frustrating for me as he could understand but not speak, which is in turn what he must go through for the rest of his life.
Another shot that I found to be quite interesting as well as important to the meaning of the film itself was the shot in which Jean-Do is 'trapped' inside a diving suit. He is shown, suspended from a rope as he floats down, deeper into the dark ocean. I felt that the main purpose of this shot is to portray what exactly Jean-Do feels like in his condition and it really does help to explain as it is hard to imagine what it is really like. The shot is at a long distance away and occasionally a high angle shot is shown.
Another shot that I found interesting was the close-ups on the drawings and photographs that lined the walls in Jean-Do's hospital room. The pictures were shown to Jean-Do's heavy breathing and heart beats in the background. Another shot in the film that was moving was the shot in which Jean-Do is placed in front of a trophy case at the end of a hallway. Jean-Do sees his relfection in the glass and then begins to imagine a woman in a large gown behind him. His fantasy continues as he stands up with little help and kisses the women. The shot in which I found most interesting though, was the one right at the end of his dream, when the woman behind him fades into one of his nurses and he comes back to present time.
This film was heart-warming and overall very well done.
In my opinion, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, is one of the most impressive films we have watched.
The shot or the sequence of shots that stood out to me, was the opening shots of the film. The director's choice of how to shoot this was great. By using a point of view shot, we are put into the body of the main character. We are experiencing the event and learning things as he does. The camera's lack of focus, and fading in and out of the camera give a great illusion of his blurred vision and struggle to keep his eyes open. The sound also adds to the uneasy feeling of the shot. The heavy breathing and muffled voices of doctors is almost unbearable. All of these elements combined with the low angle shot, looking up at all these strange people around him makes the feeling of helplessness overwhelming.
This shot was a great opener to the movie, and just the first struggle of many that Jean-Do had to endure.
Sorry, the comment above ^ is by Kevin Mozdzen. Sorry about the lack of last name.
It`s hard to find one single shot that moved me in this amazing film, I could name easily three shots that made me have goosebumps. I`ll just mention one of them to keep it short. The sequence where Jean-Do is in the ambulance, after being diagnosed with pneumonia. Schnabel captured the emotion of fear, imprisonment and sorrow. The editing had a good part to do with it, since it made possible for us to have the sensation of what was going on inside that ambulance, with the lights and the images of the city around it. The world keeps spinning, but that man is still trapped in his own body. We don`t quite know if he is gonna make it, but we somehow get in touch with his feelings.
I really liked this film by Julian Schnabel. It was very marvously done from start to finish. Distinct shots, the opening sequence was amazing and the over all unique style of the movie had an awesome effect throughout the entire film. It was timed, spaced and featured perfectly. There are many positives I could say about this film, so overall the -entire- film moved me, I do believe it was my favorite thus far. Great film.
Post a Comment