So you wanna know something? I really, really enjoy watching french movies. Like a lot. I love french culture and I think the language is beautiful. I was going to get a french language minor but, sadly, engineering got in the way and french classes wouldn't fit into my schedule :( sad day, moving on. So anyways, I have actually watched quite a lot of french movies. So now I am going to share my all time favorite one with you.
The most inspirational movie I've ever seen (and book I've ever read) just so happens to also be a french film. It is called Le Scaphandre et le Papillion, translated to english as The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. It is a memoir about the life of Jean-Dominique Bauby who was the editor-in-chief of Elle magazine. In 1995 he suffered a stroke which caused him to go into a coma. When he woke up from the coma, he was completely paralyzed except for his left eye. The book tells about different experiences in his life, both before and after the stroke. Now the extraordinary part is that he wrote his entire memoir himself after the stroke with the help of a transcriber who would read the alphabet in the order of most usage and Bauby would blink everytime he wanted a letter written down. It took about 2 minutes to write a single word.
In the memoir, Jean-Dominique describes his life as being stuck in an old fashioned diving suit, trapped and far below the surface of the water. Although he is completely paralyzed and unable to communicate with his family or anyone else, it is seen in the movie that he still has the same spirit and is still living, thus where the butterfly portion of the title comes from.
After seeing this movie, I decided to read the english translation of the book. I was a senior in high school when I read it. And it could not have been a better time for me. The memoir put a lot of things in my life into perspective. I had a lot of personal issues to deal with at the time and thought I would never be right again. But then I read Bauby's memoir. It really made me think about my life and my outlook on everything in general. His book made me realize that even though you're living on the outside, it is more important to feel like you're living on the inside (if that makes sense to anyone ha).
This whole story of Jean-Dominique Bauby is so inspirational to me because even when it seemed that his life was over, he still lived and was determined to do something that many people would see as impossible. He chose to live and to write his memoir. His spirit was still alive even though it appeared that he may as well have died. Bauby is a source of hope for me. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly made me realize that even in my worst situations, I have a great life and wouldn't trade it for the world.
So as I finish this post I would like to encourage everyone reading this to either watch this movie or read the book. I know it has given me a better outlook on life. I know life can seem so difficult at times but if you just step back for one minute and examine it all, you may find that it's all ok and that nothing is ever that bad, even if it may seem like it at the time. So live your life like you have no problems and everything will fall into place.
Oh, and another good french movie is called Au Revoir Les Enfants if you're interested ;)
Love me or hate me,
Molly :)
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