Photo of the Week
Another view of the Centre Pompidou. Photo © Darren Palmer of Paris by Photo.
Wednesday, 30 May 2012 00:00
Paris Update What's New in Paris
RESTAURANT/CLUB/CAFE
Wanderlust: Finally, part of Les Docks, Cité de la Mode et Design will open to the public on June 6. Brunch on the terrace, take a yoga class, take in a concert or dance all night. 34, quai d'Austerlitz, 75013 Paris.
SHOPS
Stella Cadente: The designer of very feminine clothing and accessories has a new Paris store that's like a gold-lined tunnel. 102 boulevard Beaumarchais, 75011 Paris.
Ecolo-Chic: Pop-up store in the Marais selling ethically resourced products, from toys and design to organic wine. 90, rue des Archives, 75003 Paris.
SMOKING
A new organization, L'Union pour les Droits des Fumeurs Adultes, has been formed to lobby for the rights of French smokers
JUSTIN ON THE ROOFTOPS
Keep your eyes peeled: Justin Bieber will be filming for the Web TV program live@home in an undisclosed location on the rooftops of Paris on the evening of May 31. Click here to win a pass to the taping.
Wednesday, 30 May 2012 00:00
Paris Update Flash News
CAKE THE WAY WE LIKE IT
Goodies on display at Merce and the Muse.
Nowadays, American expatriates in Paris can easily satisfy almost all their nostalgic food cravings, from hamburgers to Reese’s peanut-butter cups or Oreo cookies. Until Merce and the Muse opened in the Upper Marais, however, it wasn’t easy to find good homemade, American-style cakes. The desserts at this homey, flea-market-furnished café are not just good, they are scrumptious and original, made from owner Merce Muse’s own recipes. The other day I shared a slice of chocolate layer cake with vanilla icing and another of pistachio cake with rose icing with a friend, but in truth I wanted to eat all of both of them. 1 bis, rue Dupuis, 75003 Paris. Tel.: 09 53 14 53 04. Open Tues.-Sun. for breakfast, lunch and coffee; brunch on Sunday. Heidi Ellison
Paris Update This Week's Events
For full details about an event, click on its name to visit the official Web site (in English when available).
 Art Saint-Germain-des-Prés
>Left Bank gallery walk. Collective opening, May 31, 6pm. May 31-June 3.
Carré Rive Gauche
>Another Left Bank gallery walk, with 120 participating galleries. June 1-June 3.
Champs-Elysées Film Festival
>A new Franco-American film festival, presided over by Lambert Wilson and Michael Madsen. Various locations, Paris, June 6-12.
Chartre en Lumières
> The town of Chartres illuminates its monuments and the cathedral with colorful light installations. Through Sept. 15.
Designer's Days
>Design shops, galleries, schools and more participate in a city-wide design event. Various locations, Paris, May 31-June 4.
Festival de l'Imaginaire
> Performances by troupes from around the world, Maison des Cultures du Monde, Paris, through June 17.
Festival de Saint Denis
> Music festival featuring both stars like Sir Colin Davis and young talents; ends with a dawn performance by horse whisperer Bartabas and oud player Mehdi Haddab, Cathedral and Legion of Honor, Saint Denis, through June 30.
Festival Extensions
> Concerts, dance, films and more, various locations, Paris and Val de Marne, through May 31.
Festival International des Jardins de Chaumont-sur-Loire
>"Gardens of delights, gardens of delirium" is the theme of this year's garden festival, Chaumont-sur-Loire, through Oct. 21.
Festival Jazz à Saint-Germain-des-Prés
>Jazz acts ranging from amateur to big names like Ahmad Jamal and Yusef Lateef (together). Various locations, Paris, Through June 3.
Le Court en Dit Long
>Festival of short films. Centre Wallonie-Bruxelles, Paris, June 4-9.
Nomades
>Cultural festival in the third arrondissement; art, poetry, concerts and more. Various locations, Paris, May 31-June 3.
Quinzaine des Réalisateurs
>The features and short subjects entered in this category at the Cannes Film Festival shown in Paris, Forum des Images, Paris, May 31-June 10
Salon du Vin de La Revue du Vin de France
>Annual wine fair. Palais Brongniart, Paris, June 2-3
|
Le Scaphandre et le Papillon
-
Film
-
/ Drama
-
Created on Tuesday, 29 May 2007 23:00
-
Published on Sunday, 22 February 2009 21:45
-
Written by Tom Ridgway
Diving Deep
 |
| Mathieu Almaric plays Jean-Dominique Bauby, a victim of "locked-in syndrome." |
|
|
Paris at the end of May, when the whole cinema world is living it up in Cannes, is a feast for film lovers. Piggybacking on the free publicity the films get simply by being shown at the festival – with TV specials and reports on every news bulletin – some Cannes entrants are released immediately in France. Among the May and June releases is Julian Schnabel’s La Scaphandre et le Papillon (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly). This moving, beautifully made and intelligent tearjerker (bring your hankies) with a daring aesthetic was given a 20-minute standing ovation (and Schnabel the best director prize) at this year’s festival.
La Scaphandre is based on the true story of Jean-Dominique Bauby, the editor of French Elle, who in 1997 had a stroke that left him completely paralyzed, apart from his right eye. After a period in a coma he awoke and, with the help of a speech therapist and a secretary, managed to laboriously write a book describing his condition: The secretary would recite the letters of the alphabet and he would wink when she said the correct one. Published just 10 days before Bauby died, the book went on to become a best seller around the world.
Schnabel daringly films the first third entirely from Bauby’s point of view, opening the film at the moment when he wakes up, giving us blurred images (Bauby can’t focus at first because his left eye is too damaged) with a limited field of vision (he can’t turn his head to follow people’s movements). These images are accompanied by a voiceover of his thoughts. He believes he is speaking, but no one reacts, since they can’t hear him. As played by Mathieu Almaric (whom we don’t actually see for around 25 minutes), the moment when Bauby realizes that he is unable to communicate is terrifying. You get a real sense of the panic he must have felt as he understood his situation.
Schnabel takes his visual cues from Bauby’s book and puts Almaric in a deep-sea diving suit and films him screaming silently as he sinks ever deeper. The two visual strategies create a palpable sense of claustrophobia that works; it’s perhaps the most frightening thing I’ve seen on screen for a long time.
Bauby was suffering from what is known as “locked-in syndrome” and the film almost excluvisely locks us in to Bauby’s point of view. His relationships – with his father, the mother of his children and his mistress – are dealt with in flashbacks, memories Bauby re-creates to comfort him in his almost hermetically sealed mental world.
While there are some moments of painterly pretension (Schnabel can’t help himself), it’s easy to forgive him because Le Scaphandre et le Papillon is so intelligently thought through. Helped by fantastic cinematography from Spielberg favorite Janusz Kaminski, it moves far beyond the simplistic tearjerker it could so easily have been, allowing us to understand how Bauby was forced to reach deep inside himself and letting us share the fear and determination he felt and expressed.
The result is a film about that’s as much about life as death. It forces us to see that, in a godless world, art – whether a book or a film – is the only way we can truly create life after death.
|
Tom Ridgway
© 2007 Paris Update
More film reviews.
Reader Reaction
Reader Reaction
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
to respond to this article (your response may be published on this page and is subject to editing).
|
