Millions of eye balls remained glued to the television screens around the world as New York-based film-maker Julian Schnabel received the Best Director Award for Motion Picture, ‘The Diving Bell And The Butterfly’ at the 65th Annual Golden Globe Awards on 13 January 2008 at Beverly Hills, US. A highly praised French movie, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is a true story about a stroke victim (late journalist, Jean-Dominique Bauby) who narrates his memoir only through the blinks of an eyelid. Despite stiff competition, the movie director Julian Schnabel managed to beat all other directors nominated in the Golden Globe Awards for The Best Director category.
Nominations for the Golden Globe Awards For The Best Director (2008) Included -
- Tim Burton – Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
- Ethan Coen, Joel Coen – No Country For Old Men
- Julian Schnabel – The Diving Bell And The Butterfly (winner)
- Ridley Scott – American Gangster
- Joe Wright – Atonement
The Story of ‘The Diving Bell And The Butterfly’ in a Gist
The movie, The Diving Bell And The Butterflyis actually an adaptation of the moving book (memoir) penned in 1997 by late Jean-Dominique Bauby, who was the editor of Elle France. In 1995, the 43-year-old Jean-Dominique Bauby suffered a stroke that left his entire body paralyzed, except his left eye.
Feeling trapped inside his very own body due to the paralysis, Jean-Dominique Bauby eventually realizes that he can communicate by blinking his left eye, which her uses to identify the letters of the alphabet. Though an unbearably slow method, this equips him with a tactic to spell words and sentences slowly and thereby, give vent to his inner feelings and emotions.
Bauby realizes that the sole thing that could keep him from handing over the reign of his life to destiny forever was by writing a book (memoir) about his experiences. This was a courageous decision that Bauby made as it took him a few minutes to choose every word by the blink of his left eye. And in his arduous mission, he was helped by a group of unselfish women comprising his nurse, friends and family. The Diving Bell And The Butterfly is also an ode to nurturing power of women.
The Diving Bell And The Butterfly Trivia
- The director Schnabel opposed pressure by the production company to make the movie, The Diving Bell And The Butterfly, in English. He remained firm on his stance because he believed that the rich language of the book would not work as well in English and therefore, even went on to learn French to do this film.
- The film often shows what Bauby (protagonist) views. For instance, blinking is featured as the image turning black for few seconds. Much of the movie proffers mind's-eye views of Bauby's memories and imagination.
