I should read the book
Le scaphandre et le papillon
It’s been a long time since I have had such mixed feelings about a film. They are mostly feelings, of course, but I cannot help it. I found it extremely odd that the girlfriend in the film never saw Bauby because she was afraid. Somehow it just feels like an unlikely thing to happen. It also came across as unlikely that the “wife” would take care of him that way. In reality, of course it was the true girlfriend who stayed by his side, and the “wife” who disappeared into nowhere. To top it off, the true “wife” was the person who made the film deviate from reality and Bauby’s book, solely to put herself into a better light and deprecating the girlfriend. On a human level, I find this so incredibly disgusting that it destroyed the mood of the film’s most crucial scene. It also didn’t help that the “wife” was beautiful and blonde, and the girlfriend had darker hair and a generally less pleasant face. Goodness.
Enough complaining for now. Ignoring the appalling background to the story, it is hard to deny that the film itself is fairly brilliant. Directing, style, storytelling, everything is extremely well done, and so naturally poetic. I am sure the book itself is also a great ode to what makes a human alive – his imagination and memory indeed. I like the premise of the film and enjoyed the encounters with his friends very much. It makes me wonder whether, if it had happened to me, who would stay next to my bed every day. Bauby, this seemingly unlikable bon vivant, actually had a lot of true friends. I feel deeply impressed by that, and it makes me wonder why. On the other hand, I wonder how many people in this world I would visit every day if this happened to them. (12.)
With that said, the best scene in the film was actually the one with the father. That one is likely to be not obscured by filmmaker’s politics, and I thought that it was absolutely beautiful. Ah, the poor father.
I am also a huge fan of Anne Consigny for no apparent reason. She always plays the same kind of role, but somehow I always find her very lovely with this worried face of hers.
I heard the members of “Explosions in the Sky” like movies. I think this is absolutely awesome, and I wonder how they’d feel about this particular film, especially since they used “Your Hand in Mine” for the trailer.
