articles récents
Red Carpet Day - Les entrepreneurs français au Royaume parlent aux entrepreneurs français en France - Le jeudi 10 octobre, le Red Carpet Day organisé par l'Union...
London’s Favourite French Film 2013 - Les gagnants - Intouchables remporte London's Favourite French Film 2013...
Top 5 Tips to a Memorable Profile on LinkedIn - Exécutive Coach, Alexandra Sleator, se penche sur les moyens à...
Placements immobiliers locatifs vs chambres d'étudiants - Placer vos économies dans l'immobilier est toujours une...
MAGAZINE
- Culture
- Decoration
- Droit
- Education
- Emploi
- Enfants
- Gourmet
- Immobilier
- Life and Style
- Mode
- Politique/Economie
- Sante
- Sport
- Vacances
Device converter
Weather
Annonces
- Native French Speaker - French conversation/grammar via Skype
- BILLETS DE TRAIN PARIS-LONDON (9 JANVIER)
- Return train tickets to Paris on 03/01, one adult and one child
- 3 Jan: one way tickets Paris to London
Déposez une annonce sur ce site
Ajoutés récemment
articles > Culture events
Le Scaphandre et le Papillon: Rencontre avec le réalisateur Julian Schnabel
Interview with Julian SchnabelIn 1997, Jean-Dominique Bauby, famous magazine ‘Elle’ editor in chief awaken from a coma caused by a sudden heart attack. Yet he discovered that he has lost the control of his entire body. The only part that he can move is his left eye. While everything seems lost in a situation that any common person could bear a second, Jean-Dominique, with the help of his doctors learn a new way to communicate. He learns to do it with his left eye and manages, as surprising as can be, to break the silence with his circle of visitors and above all he manages to write his autobiography “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”.
Julian Schnabel brilliantly succeeded in adapting this dramatic story with a pick of humour. The result is an extraordinary tear-moving adaptation, magnificently thought out and incredibly well directed. This American director manages to recreate the French atmosphere described within the book using French actors and filming in well-known French locations such as Berk-sur-Mer. This release is obviously this new year’s cinema event and is an absolute ‘must -see’…
I met Julian Schnabel, the film director, when he was in London for the London Film Festival this autumn. And even if very busy, he was very pleasant and welcoming and took time to answer questions. This interview revealed a very funny and talkative person but not less preoccupied by some existential thoughts.
Julian Schnabel might be American but, as surprising as can be, he decided to shoot the entire movie in French, with French actors and in France. This choice is understandable for a director whose goal was to remain as close as possible to Jean-Dominique Bauby’s book, and thus to the reality. But what is it like to film in another language with French actors, in France when you don’t speak French? It is worth pointing out at this stage that Julian Schnabel does not speak French. Julian explained how he had to take a crash course in French immediately before starting. For him, this language gap didn’t have to become a problem for the shooting of the movie, ‘this movie is about communicating and the power of learning. So learning how to speak another language help me in many ways’. He added that the issue of how to communicate is present through the movie and from the very first scene when the viewers discover the main character, Jean-Dominique Bauby (played by Mathieu Almaric), lying in a bed, unable to move, unable to speak, just able to observe the world through his left eye.
For people who are nevertheless hoping for an English version of the movie, note that there will be one available on DVD.
It wasn’t just the shooting of the film that Julian found interesting, he also had to go deep into his own personal reflection. Indeed, Julian Schnabel explained how deeply he was concerned about the death issue raised in the movie. This movie tells the story of a man who survives an accident, and, even if paralysed and unable to communicate except through his left eye, he decides to live this reprieve in a way he would have never done it before and writes a book. This movie tells us about death and awareness of our own death, something Julian Schnabel was extremely, and maybe is still afraid of. He remembered about the same fear his father experienced before dying and explained how this movie helped him to come to terms with it: ‘My dad, who died a couple of years earlier at 92, was just terrified. I am also terrified but, by making this film, it was like a self-help device for me. In the movie, Jean Dominique Bauby could articulate his story through his book. And I think that he had a second given to him and finally realising what he cared most in life. My concern is that when I die I’ll just be scared and think that there is no reason for being here. And I thought that in Jean Do’s case, he found something: He started to use his imagination in a way that he never used it. His brain became his instrument and with that he was able to leave his body… And this man started to meditate on his dreams. He started thinking how his life was’.
The director first thought of Johnny Depp for the main character, who was at the time not available. He nevertheless specified that even if Johnny Depp had accepted, ‘[he] would have still shot in the hospital and would have still surrounded Johnny with French people and he would have spoken French’. It could help that Johnny is married to Vanessa Paradis and lives in France…and speaks French.
Yet, Julian Schnabel was very happy with his final choice: Mathieu Almaric. ‘The great thing about Mathieu…is that he is French! I mean, the things he would say were things that French people would say. He did an absolutely magnificent job. He gave me everything, even more’.
LAISSER UN COMMENTAIRE