The Red Balloon

The Graduate

Melancholia

"How incredibly trivial"

The Descendants

Annie Hall

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007)

The 2007 critically acclaimed film, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is truly a work of art. Based on the true novel by Jean-Dominique Bauby, this film explores the devastating aftermath of the author's stroke.
Jean-Dominique Bauby was a young, attractive and intelligent editor for Elle magazine. At the young age of 42, he suffered a massive stroke while driving his son around. He was fully paralyzed, losing all ability to control bodily functions, with the exception of his left eyelid. His impairment is called, "locked-in syndrome." After the doctors sought to find a way to communicate through blinking, he was able to articulate an entire book to a scribe. The film adapts his memoir in a beautiful and captivating way.

The title of the film seems so perfect to me. "The diving bell" to which he refers to, is the prison and suppression he feels within his own body. His mind is perfectly unaltered by the stroke so he must process all of his thoughts without speaking or physically interacting with others. His mind is "the butterfly," which is a beautiful thing that flies freely. “Other than my eye, there are two things that aren’t paralyzed. My imagination and my memory... they are the only two ways I can escape this diving bell.”

I am not normally a fan of films shot in first-perspective, but this one I truly enjoyed. It really allowed for me to get into the mind of the protagonist, and sympathize with his tragic predicament. There is one shot in particular that sticks in my mind; when they must sew his right eye so that it does not go septic. I truly enjoyed the experimental editing and cinematography of this film.

"This is life?" Jean-Dominique Bauby's tale is a tragic one. Throughout the film we see glimpses of his memories intertwined with his present "captivity." He shares some beautiful moments with the people around him. The relationships from his "past life" are put to a test, and we see that even though he is the one paralyzed, everyone around him seems to reflect his suppressed situation. This film is quite a beautiful feat and I recommend it to anyone who has not experienced it.

Big Fish (2003)

Big Fish is a remarkably imaginative story about something so simple; a relationship between a father and son. Will Bloom, son of Edward Bloom, has heard his father tell his tall tales innumerable times. When he reaches adulthood, his resentment for telling these falsities hits a breaking point and he doesn't speak to his father for three years. He believes that his father has always exaggerated his stories and he doesn't know who he really is, therefore he cannot trust him. The hiatus of their relationship stops when Will learns his father has become ill. Will must return home to care for his father until his last days. We revisit Edward's life through his many adventures tales, beautifully depicted by director, Tim Burton.

Edward Bloom was like a gold fish. If kept in a small fishbowl, he would not reach the biggest size a goldfish could grow. Edward leaves the small town he grew up in so that he can take on the bigger things the world has to offer him. He stumbles upon a mysterious town called Spector where the citizens seem to have already known his name. I believe this town to be a representation of heaven and hell. In the beginning of the movie, when he first arrives, they tell him that they were expecting him, but he was too early. This representation is heaven. Everything is sterlingly perfect and beautiful and every person is truly happy. Later in the film when Edward returns to the town, it is too late. The town is decrepit and run-down, filled with unhappy people. He must do everything in his power to save the town. He is a "Jesus" of sorts. He even has a similar ideology to Jesus' "treat your neighbor as yourself." Edward says, "Most people that you think are scary or angry are lonely and lacking in social niceties." He says this in response to people being unkind to ostracized individuals. In the town of Spector, there is even a clothes lines where everyone's shoes hang. The citizens say that you don't need shoes in this town because the grass is too soft. I believe that taking their shoes off is a metaphor for saying that they have arrived at their destinations.

*SPOLIER ALERT
When Edward begins to die of cancer, the tall tales end and we are brought back to the sad reality of death and illness. The tragedy of life is something that Edward's tall tales always made light of.

The ending of this film was quite possibly one of the most emotionally heart-wrenching endings I have ever seen. Throughout the film, we see the weak tie Edward and Will have as father and son. Will says, "I didn't see myself in him. He didn't see any of himself in me. We were like strangers that knew each other very well." But towards the end of the film, Will begins to learn things about his father's life that enables him to trust him and his stories. When Edward's end is very near, Will stays the night with his father in his hospital room. Knowing his impending death, Edward asks his son to "tell him how he goes." Will plays along with his father's story-telling fashion and tells an elaborate and completely unrealistic version of his death. As Will carries his father to a river, Edward is greeted by all of the various characters from his stories. Will then places his father in the river bank and he turns into the "big fish" that he always was meant to become. He swims away in peace.

After Will tells his father his ideal end, he finds peace and dies in his hospital bed. Not his ideal theatrical ending, but a tie with his son is more important than the fables.
I thoroughly enjoyed the eccentric art design, the beautiful cinematography, and the playful yet emotionally powerful narrative. It is a marvelous harmony of make-believe and reality. I recommend it to all.