Aside

  • What is saithurein?

    Well... saithurein is acutally a person, Sai Thurein. Me.

    Technically, once upon a time not so long ago, I wasn't really a person. Just some bit of energy floating around in the cosmos. A bit of a let down isnt it?

    One person. Fourteen minds. Twenty-seven* years in the making. A good great deal of them spent learning about all kinds of stuff, mainly computer related. Every word and sentence has been individually crafted to the beat of some mysterious drummer (most likely one of those guys with the tattoos on the Roman warships keeping the slaves rowing in time) in my head.

    *The sum of our age is much greater, but this is some arbitary number to keep the tax man happy.

le scaphandre et le papillon

Posted on: Monday, February 18, 2008

Tags: Inspiration, Self

Last year, Chris informed me that one of her favorite books was the basis for a film which recently won awards at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival. I knew nothing of the novel or the film so she offered me the book to read. I enjoyed the story but didn't completely appreciate its depth until I saw the film last night.

Although my French is a little hazy, my friends are amazed at my zeal to still go and see a movie with minimal language orientation.

This is a true biographical sketch of a French Journalist Jean-Dominique Bauby (Mathieu Amalric) who was also the editor of magazine ELLE. In 1995, he had a heart stroke and that left him fully paralyzed with a rare condition, lock-in syndrome. This is his story from his eye view. Despite his condition, he authored a book by blinking his left eye-lid when a correct alphabet was uttered by a person. It is a painful process to write a book with such a pace. Not only for Jean but it requires enormous patience from the side of the one scripting the alphabet to form words and sentences. Jean died 3 days after the book was published.

Who else could have made the movie but a very sensitive and artistic person, it is an American artist / painter and now Director Julian Schnabel. This is his third movie and he has hit the right chords to draw the vast canvas. In the first couple of minutes we are all set for what is to follow. The fantastic capture of real eye angle camera movements from the vision of Jean is incredibly real. For first 20 minutes the audience only sees what Jean sees, but when the camera slowly comes out of Jean's eyes and sees Jean objectively, every time I felt like going back to the heart and soul of Jean's eye vision. It is so wonderful and sensitive.

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 most wonderful part that remains with you after the movie is the sense of humor with which Jean sees this world. He remains light hearted at times and thinks hilarious comments even in the most painful state of his being.

I would also like to mention the two supporting characters who render Jean's words on paper. It is the patience and sensitivity of characters that is touching and those roles are beautifully portrayed by two well known Canadian and French actresses, Marie Josee Croze (former writer) and Anne Consigny (latter writer) respectively.

The photography is superb. The camera angles as I mentioned are innovative and treat to watch. Hats off to Julian Schnabel in gifting the world of cinema a rare gem! When good cinema touches your soul, language disappears!