thedivingbellandthebutterfly

I have wanted to see this movie for quite some time, and after hearing so much about it I knew the summary on the back of the DVD case couldn't do it justice, so I decided to finally see it. I was glad I finally did. In short, I was rendered speechless after this film. Everything oozed with perfection: the soundtrack, the cinematography, and of course, the story. What a beautiful story. It was so moving. I was in tears for most of the movie, and when it comes to movies it takes a lot to make me cry. It is undeniable that I was deeply influenced by this film. There was one part where Jean-Do explains the remorse he has for not loving his children more and for not being kinder to their mother. I was kind of jolted at these words because I noticed that anything fatal could happen at any time. To anyone. I am often one who takes it all for granted, treating people however the hell I want to. And in retrospect it isn't right, that's obvious. But when there's that chance that you could be ripped away from everything so quickly, unable to make a menze it's scary, and potentially very real. The first, I'd say 15 minutes of this film were shot through the eyes of Jean-Do. How brilliant! I felt a bit anxious because of my inability to see everything. I imagined that Jean-Do felt quite similar to that, I'm sure he felt inhibited and anxious because of the confusion so prevalent in the opening scenes. A most powerful part of this film was when there was a montage of pictures of Jean-Do from all different aspects of his life. They portrayed him as this lively human being, bursting at the seem to live and experience all he could. Then it's his current face, a face permanently distorted. No more expression to be seen there. It was devastating but powerful and harsh. It was so painful to see such a young being destroyed at the prime of his life. But to say he was destroyed would sacrifice much of what he did, so perhaps he was merely inhibited from pursuing his life to the fullest extent. It is incredible that this man wrote a book. It goes to show that despite his body being a complete vegetable, his mind was bustling with thought and beauty of imagination. Remarkable really.