Search - The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

The astonishing true-life story of Jean-Dominic Bauby -- a man who held the world in his palm, lost everything to sudden paralysis at 43 years old, and somehow found the strength to rebound -- first touched the world in Bauby's best-selling autobiography -The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (aka -La Scaphandre et la Papillon), then in Jean-Jacques Beineix's half-hour 1997 documentary of Bauby at work, released under the same title, and, ten years after that, in this Cannes-selected docudrama, helmed by Julian Schnabel (Basquiat) and adapted from the memoir by Ronald Harwood (Cromwell). The Schnabel/Harwood picture follows Bauby's story to the letter -- his instantaneous descent from a wealthy and congenial playboy and the editor of French Elle, to a bed-bound, hospitalized stroke victim with an inactive brain stem that made it impossible for him to speak or move a muscle of his body. This prison, as it were, became a kind of "diving bell" for Bauby -- one with no means of escape. With the editor's mind unaffected, his only solace lay in the "butterfly" of his seemingly depthless fantasies and memories. Because of Bauby's physical restriction, he only possessed one channel for communication with the outside world: ocular activity. By moving his eyes and blinking, he not only began to interact again with the world around him, but -- astonishingly -- authored the said memoir via a code used to signify specific letters of the alphabet. In Schnabel's picture, Mathieu Amalric tackles the difficult role of Bauby; the film co-stars Emmanuelle Seigner, Marie-Josée Croze, Anne Consigny, and Patrick Chesnais. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

Mathieu Amalric - Jean-Dominique 'Jean Do' Bauby
Emmanuelle Seigner - Céline Desmoulin
Marie-Josée Croze - Henriette Roi
Anne Consigny - Claude
Patrick Chesnais - Doctor Lepage

2007	Best Director (winner)	Cannes Film Festival	Julian Schnabel
2007	Prix Vulcain de l'Artiste-Technicien (winner)	Cannes Film Festival	Janusz Kaminski
2007	Best Feature (nominee)	Independent Spirit Awards	Kathleen Kennedy
2007	Best Feature (nominee)	Independent Spirit Awards	Jon Kilik
2007	Best Director (winner)	Independent Spirit Awards	Julian Schnabel
2007	Best Screenplay (nominee)	Independent Spirit Awards	Ronald Harwood
2007	Best Cinematographer (winner)	Independent Spirit Awards	Janusz Kaminski
2007	Best Director (nominee)	Los Angeles Film Critics Association	Julian Schnabel
2007	Best Cinematography (winner)	Los Angeles Film Critics Association	Janusz Kaminski
2007	Best Director (winner)	Boston Society of Film Critics	Julian Schnabel
2007	Best Director (nominee)	Broadcast Film Critics Association	Julian Schnabel
2007	Best Director (winner)	Golden Globe	Julian Schnabel
2007	Best Screenplay (nominee)	Golden Globe	Ronald Harwood
2007	Best Cinematography (nominee)	Chicago Film Critics Association	Janusz Kaminski
2007	Best Director (nominee)	Detroit Film Critics Society	Julian Schnabel
2007	Best Actor (nominee)	Detroit Film Critics Society	Mathieu Amalric
2007	Best Director (nominee)	Directors Guild of America	Julian Schnabel
2007	Best Adapted Screenplay (nominee)	Writers Guild of America	Ronald Harwood
2007	Best Director (nominee)	National Society of Film Critics	Julian Schnabel
2007	Best Screenplay (nominee)	National Society of Film Critics	Ronald Harwood
2007	Best Cinematography (nominee)	National Society of Film Critics	Janusz Kaminski
2007	Best Cinematography (nominee)	American Society of Cinematographers	Janusz Kaminski
2007	Best Editing (winner)	Alliance of Women Journalists	Juliette Welfling
2007	Best Director (winner)	Kansas City Film Critics Association	Julian Schnabel
2007	Best Art Direction in a Contemporary Film (nominee)	Art Directors Guild	Michel Eric
2007	Best Art Direction in a Contemporary Film (nominee)	Art Directors Guild	Laurent Ott
2007	Best Adapted Screenplay (nominee)	British Academy of Film and Television	Ronald Harwood
2007	Best Foreign Language Film (nominee)	British Academy of Film and Television	Kathleen Kennedy
2007	Best Foreign Language Film (nominee)	British Academy of Film and Television	Jon Kilik
2007	Best Foreign Language Film (nominee)	British Academy of Film and Television	Julian Schnabel
2007	Best Cinematography (nominee)	Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie	Janusz Kaminski
2007	Best Directing (nominee)	Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie	Julian Schnabel
2007	Best Editing (nominee)	Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie	Juliette Welfling
2007	Best Adapted Screenplay (nominee)	Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie	Ronald Harwood

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