Analysis of The Diving Bell and The Butterfly

I think that this movie was done amazingly well. I was almost left speechless at the end of this film because of the way that the movie was shot, and the emotion that was brought out by the way that the movie was filmed. The fact that we were seeing everything from inside Baubys head during the first thirty or so minutes was phenomenal. I could not have asked for a better point of view or perspective because I am not sure that I would have felt the intensity and the emotion that was behind everything in this movie. I think that during the other parts of the film when we were seeing Bauby's life through an objective point of view was much more impersonal, and I as a viewer was not able to really feel and see what Bauby was feeling during those moments that we were watching him, and not watching everything that he was seeing instead.

The lighting and the coloring during that first part of the film were done with such dullness that they were almost beautiful. There were a lot of grays, blues, and reds. But they were not rich bright versions of those colors, but they were dull and at times hazy and blurry. During this scene Bauby is waking up for the first time after his accident so everything that we see from his point of view is blurry like and that is why the colors are blurry as well. But Bauby slowly keeps opening his eyes and trying to make out the images that are before him, but it takes some time because of his current state. The framing that we witness during this scene is also very interesting because we only see a little at a time because that Doctors keep getting closer and closer to Bauby's face, and some to the extent of being able to see the little red veins in the one Doctors eye and the stubble on another Doctors lip, in the filming world this would be called a close-up. Because we are looking through his eye we can only see very little because he cannot really move his neck so we only can see what is in one frame at a time. It is hard to see what else is going on in the scene not only because he cannot really move his head, but also because his vision is blurred so therefore so is ours. It almost seems to me at times that the way we are seeing the world through his eyes is like a movement or a mobile frame because of the way that we follow his line of vision from person to person, and from object to object just by the movement of his one eye.

There are times while watching this movie that I really get the feeling like I am in the wheel chair with Bauby because of the way that we are seeing the world from his view. It brings to mind the idea of tracking shots, dolly shots, and traveling shots which are all pretty much the same in that they are moving shots that could be compared to looking at one point and moving towards or away from that spot, but not breaking your gaze. I think that beat example of this in the movie is of the first time that Bauby goes out onto the balcony where the mother of his children is, but also looks out onto a beautiful shot of the ocean and mountains, and from the opposite point of view a red and white striped lighthouse that Bauby loves to look at.

I really think that the cinematographer for this film was genius with the way that they decided to make this film. The point of view is amazing and I cannot thinking of a more intimate and perfect way to really the life and pain of Jean-Do Bauby, than through his own eye.