THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY and THE MOTHER AND THE WHORE

Yesterday I saw THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY and was really moved by it. The initial scenes were hard for me to watch because they are so blurry even though it was clear that the camera was the "eye" of the man who had had a major stroke and was waking up out of a coma. The film was based on a book written by the person who had experienced all this challenge in becoming paralyzed and completely dependent.

The acting, like in all French films, was superb. I love the casting that is done in France. Good acting is much more important than great make-up jobs. Max von Sydow did look extremely handsome and overall, I would say I went to see this film primarily for the visuals. I knew there would have to be many dream sequences and some surreal staging and moments.

I never disliked Julian Schnabel's paintings. I suppose one reaches a limit with painting "greatly" like he had done in the past. Using a new medium and twisting many camera angles, Schnabel demonstrated that painting and drawing are the mothers of the arts.

Speaking of mothers, I saw THE MOTHER AND THE WHORE this past week, having rented it from the video store. (It was on VHS--I don't have a dvd player.) This is a French film as well. It doesn't hurt that I adore Jean-Pierre Leaud (I don't think I've commented on the film he did with Catherine Breillat). This film was 4 hours long. I watched it over three evenings. Actually, I watched Part 11 first and then Part !. So I already knew how the film was to "end." I couldn't say anything that would really convey how brilliant this film is.

Both the DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY and THE MOTHER AND THE WHORE beg the viewer for answers. The answers have to do with questions of love, superficiality, spirituality and the abstraction of the ego.