The Diving-Bell and the Butterfly

Product Information

The Alphabet. In this chapter Bauby discusses his communication system. He goes into detail the different types of communicators he encounters and how each one reacts to his form of communication. He discusses his preferences and how some make the communication harder as a result of not wanting to be wrong or disappoint Bauby. When I first heard about it I did not think it would be the sort of thing I would be interested in reading and definately not the sort of thing I would be interested in watching (having heard it had recently been turned into a film). One of my best friends, a man who is a great deal more sensitive and open minded than I could ever hope to be asked me if i'd read it. "A book about a man who wrote the book by blinking one eyelid?" I asked. "But I like the Die Hard Quadrology, 300 and Wilbur Smith novels - where do you think this book is going to fit into my world view? It won't fit! It will make me feel bad for hating it too" Anyway after a raised eye brow from my much less judgemental friend and with a view to being open minded I gave it a go.... di Giovanni, Janine (30 November 2008). "The real love story behind The Diving Bell and the Butterfly". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 15 April 2017 . Retrieved 13 December 2016.

After 20 days in a coma, Bauby awoke into a body which had all but stopped working: only his left eye functioned, allowing him to see and, by blinking it, to make clear that his mind was unimpaired. Almost miraculously, he was soon able to express himself in the richest detail: dictating a word at a time, blinking to select each letter as the alphabet was recited to him slowly, over and over again. In the same way, he was able eventually to compose this extraordinary book. The Ladies of Hong Kong: He loved traveling and has banks of memories and smells to recall. The one place he has not managed to visit is Hong Kong; he imagines his colleagues there and how the people, presumably superstitious, would treat him.Prayer. Once he learned of what his new life would entail, Bauby let go of his large future plans that felt no longer attainable. Throughout this chapter he focused on the victories he could overcome, such as, swallowing the excess saliva that sits in his mouth. This chapter was meaningful in how Bauby was able to convey to the reader that he struggled with the idea of letting go his plans and making new ones. Alexander, R.; Das, S. (2009). Wise Mind, Open Mind: Finding Purpose and Meaning in Times of Crisis, Loss, and Change. New Harbinger Publications. p.210. ISBN 978-1-60882-470-0 . Retrieved 12 November 2018.

Surprisingly there is a second patient at the hospital who is suffering from psudocoma. Bauby's condition is manifesting itself rather differently than his counterpart's, and differently to the text book cases that medical staff are more familiar with. He is able to turn his head, which is highly unusual, and this fact alone gives him hope, because he believes that it is a sign of his potential to recover from the condition completely. His goals are simple and few; he wants to be able to eat independently again - being French, he takes his food very seriously - and on a more basic level wants to be able to breathe without the aid of a machine. Perhaps once he has re-learned the art of independent breathing, speech may follow. He devises a plan that will help him to heal; he assigns each of his family members and friends a different part of his body to pray for, so that every body part is taken care of and nothing is forgotten or left out. Suspense is built as the patient's face is progressively revealed. We first get a glimpse of Jean-Do's face reflecting in a mirror as he is being wheeled in the great hall of the hospital. His reaction to his reflection is, "God, who's that? I look like I came out of a vat of formaldehyde." Indeed, it takes about 30 minutes into the film before we get to clearly see Bauby's distorted, frozen face. I have only seen one other film by this man, the one about the graffitist. It suffers from the same narrative excess, the same cinematic brilliance, the same mistrust of the viewer's commitment. There is a seamless blend of cinematography with the music to enhance the inner life of the main character, the viewer is at one with his inner frustration, his soaring imagination, his follies, faults and lusts. At times it is humorous, at others there are indelible vignettes - one of the long term partner (beautfully played by EmmanuelleSeigner) assisting his lover to communicate with him by telephone. Another is the incredible Max Von Sydow in a riveting performance as the elderly heart-broken father. Its definitely a worthy experience on that score. In this part I'll include all the internals plus all the elements that dealt with his being. The only weak points here were two that bothered me. One is that the filmmaker inherited these diving and butterfly metaphors and felt compelled to show them. These are poorly done in my estimation. I think they could have worked if we had created three worlds, three layers, instead of the two. One of the hospital and outer world, another of the inner mind. If we had a third which would be the fictional world of that inner mind, it might have had a place. We come close in some parts, but a clear decision is apparent to keep it easy to read with the two truths.In 2007, painter and director Julian Schnabel released a film version of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly adapted for the screen by Ronald Harwood. It starred Mathieu Amalric as Bauby. Critically acclaimed, the film received the Best Director Prize at Cannes Film Festival, and Golden Globe Awards for Best Foreign Language Film and Best Director, as well as four Academy Award nominations. Gradually, the film's restricted point of view broadens out, and the viewer begins to see Bauby from "outside", in addition to experiencing incidents from his past, including a visit to Lourdes. He also fantasizes, imagining beaches, mountains, the Empress Eugénie and an erotic feast with one of his transcriptionists. It is revealed that Bauby had been editor of the popular French fashion magazine Elle, and that he had a deal to write a book (which was originally going to be based on The Count of Monte Cristo but from a female perspective). He decides that he will still write a book, using his slow and exhausting communication technique. A woman from the publishing house with which Bauby had the original book contract is brought in to take dictation. There is definitely some innovative techniques being tossed around when the director is filming the early coma-scenes from the patient's perspective, though I would struggle to call these groundbreaking or truly unique. Book Genre: Autobiography, Biography, Biography Memoir, Classics, Cultural, Disability, France, Health, Medical, Medicine, Memoir, Nonfiction A Day in the Life”: This second to last chapter is where the read will at least read about the day when his life was forever changed. His description of the day as well as the songs on the radio give the impression that he had no idea what was to come.

This section's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed. Please help improve it by removing unnecessary details and making it more concise. ( January 2018) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message) Beautifully shot by cinematographer Janusz Kaminski with a screenplay by Ronald Harwood, the film begins with Bauby's confused awakening in the hospital after twenty days in a coma. We see only a blur of images and claustrophobic close-ups that mirror the patient's mental state. We can make out a hospital room and doctors and nurses offering reassuring thoughts. We hear Bauby's words but the doctors do not and we know that while his body isn't functioning, his mind is as sharp as ever. With the help of a speech therapist (Marie-Josée Croze), and a very patient transcriber, a code is developed that allows Bauby (Mathieu Amalric), called Jean-Do by his friends and family, to compose a book based on his experience. When the film begins, you see what the world looks like when a man (Jean-Dominique Bauby) very, very slowly awakens for the first time in weeks. It seems he's been in a coma and this is the result of a stroke--a stroke occurring to a vibrant man who was only in his early 40s at the time. This is possibly the best part of the film and it caught my attention--the fascinating use of very unusual camera angles, focus and close-ups. Mathieu Amalric has played the character of Jean with so authentication that it is hard to believe and separate his self from the real character. The story begins with Jean Dominique (Mathieu Amalric) finding himself woke up in a hospital,unable to move his body. Upon hearing from the doctor that a stroke left him unable to move, except his left eye, he found himself trapped in a prison: his body. He describes his body as a diving bell, where death sentence prisoner would wore the diving bell and drowned in the sea. With doctors and therapists taking care of him, he found himself living without dignity.The speech therapist who breaks through Bauby's barrier is excellent. Her motivation is, here is a man she respects and admires. It is also the biggest challenge of her career. Bauby's sense of humour, voiced as interior dialogue, is scathing. His lecherous thoughts about the therapist are tempered with good taste and his incorrect jokes about his own condition.