Mathieu Amalric stars in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly based on the true story of former French Elle editor Jean-Dominique Bauby. Successful, popular, and only 43-years-old, Bauby suffered a stroke which paralyzed his body with the exception of one eye. Trapped inside his body with a mind still completely functional - a condition known as locked-in syndrome - Bauby and his therapists devised a complicated communication system. Through a series of eye blinks, Bauby was able to vividly describe his new life, as well as his fantasies, wishes, and regrets, in what ultimately became his memoir, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.
Mathieu Amalric (Munich) didn’t study anyone who suffered from locked-in syndrome in order to play Bauby. “No, I'm more of an actor's studio method. I just got a stroke,” joked Amalric. “No, you know, you never know really when you're working. In fact, I met Julian. I felt that this guy just really had to do this film. It was something to do with his father. You can feel that. It's just so, so important for him. That's what made me want to do the journey with him. I don't know if Julian was looking for actors or DPs or an assistant or a location scout. He's just talking to real [people]. Like with you, he's not looking for journalists. He just breaks the professional rules, break the habits immediately so that something else happens. So how we prepared in fact, I really don't know.”
Although ultimately the decision was made to shoot the film in French, the first script Amalric received for the movie was in English. “I read it in English. Once [they] decided it was shot in French, it was translated. We took the translation, spent a lot of time, a lot of nights because he never sleeps, this man, it's exhausting. So we spent a lot of time with him translating again and trying to write. He would ask us, 'How would you say in French? Say it in French with your words.' So we'd spend time on the text. Then we went to the hospital and shot in the hospital where it really happened. There I spent some time observing. After, you just ask yourself, 'Well, if I want to look like somebody who had a stroke, that means five hours of makeup every morning and the stupidity of you can't shoot when you want because the makeup is a bit [off].' With Julian very quickly he said that's not possible. He shot films without any rehearsing, just like that. Any moment it can happen. He's not going to wait for makeup. So we had to find another way to be believable without makeup.”
“We found this idea of a dental prosthesis that was just argh,” said Amalric about his physical transformation into a stroke victim. “But I needed it to be painful [to] be concentrating on something. And a little glue here and a bit of blood in the eye and wax.”
Because most of the actors in the film are shown talking directly into the camera as though the camera was in fact Jean-Dominique Bauby, it wasn’t necessary for Amalric to physically be there for every scene in which Bauby’s supposed to be present. However that didn’t mean Amalric wasn’t actually on the set. “For the first part of the film where you don't see Jean-Do, we found it more interesting to not do the inner thoughts four months later during editing but do it at the same time,” explained Amalric. “It was funny because we were shooting in the real hospital and to have some place for the camera, it was of course a set with walls that could [move]. So we were shooting in the ballroom of the hospital. That's where the set was. So there was a little stage on the side with curtains. So, in fact, it was funny but we did [have a] sound booth. It was like I was opening a theater and I was going there and I had a little place. I had a monitor; I could see what the actors were doing, the sounds I could hear and a mic."
"As we had spent lots of time with Julian trying to meet close friends of Jean Bauby, the women he had loved, each woman - of course - thinking she was the only one because he was like that. He continued to seduce but he was just a normal guy, not a saint. And reading the book again and all that, I was completely in the sense of humor of this guy, this desperate humor. So I tried to respect that. Julian said, 'Just say what happens in your mind. React.'”
Life on the set of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly was a little uncomfortable for Amalric but that actually helped him understand and connect with Bauby’s situation. Amalric found it was easier to simply remain in the wheelchair between takes because of the discomfort. “I stayed. I just had to because it hurt,” said Amalric. “In fact, if you try to stay without moving for a long time, very quickly, in fact you need to use all your muscles. It's true. You really had to contract all your muscles not to move. So in fact, I was exhausted at the end of the day. And as he shoots without any rehearsing, I had to stay like that all the time. I tried to, and also to help the other actors, the kids for instance, so that they could sort of at one point start to believe that. ‘Why doesn't he move?’ They were forgetting.”
