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Max von Sydow on The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
By Fred Topel | Image property of Miramax Films.
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Max von Sydow is only in two scenes of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly but they are among the film's most emotional. As Jean-Dominique Bauby's father, he appears as the invalid being cared for by his son. Later, he must communicate with his paralyzed son by phone, through a translator deciphering Bauby's blinks into words.
Max von Sydow Talks The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
"I saw it really for the first time, completely, yesterday and I was very taken by it," said von Sydow. "I saw it once before but it was not totally finished and it was under bad conditions and no audience. Yesterday it was lovely to have the audience and I was surprised that there were so many laughs. I mean I hadn’t realized that there was so much humor in particularly the comments of Jean-Do when he comments on his terrible situation. It’s funny."
The veteran actor makes no big show for his own emotional breakdown moment. "It’s a wonderful scene. I was very taken by what Ron Harwood had done very, very much. Sometimes if I’m not taken in by a screenplay when I read it on page 25, sometimes I give up because I feel that you have to be part of the story, you have to be in it. If you are not at that stage, you could lose the film totally. Here I was taken immediately and also then when I came to these two little scenes, I found them as a gem really, and also just because it’s true."
In only two appearances, von Sydow traced an entire character journey. "It’s not just one cameo. It is a cameo with a development because the situations are so different. In the first one, it is a happy situation in a flashback with father and son teasing each other but showing their warm relationship and their love to each other. And then, the second one is after the catastrophe where the father is desperate because he understands that he will never be able to see his son again and he will never be able to hear his voice or talk to him really and he tries to cheer him up but he says the wrong things."
For all his raves about the script, von Sydow gives props to the book too. "The book is extraordinary because of the way it’s written and I think the script is even better. As literature, I think the script is even better. What is really interesting is, of course, if the way it has been written. Just imagine what time it must have taken him and just checking about what he had written and no, that’s wasn’t good enough, I would like to change this, and then what a long time it must’ve taken to discuss letter for letter for letter like this. That is patience really."
If Jean-Do Bauby could write a book with one eye, his story inspires others to imagine what they could do with their advantages. Perhaps growing older is not such a limitation. "Of course, you draw experiences of your own life. You have to do that. You learn through your life. You learn about what it is to be a human being in different ages and I think the older you get, the more you think of the end also and you realize what it might mean, etc. The end is the end. It depends on when it comes. The end can come too early but it can also come in due time and it can maybe even be welcomed, but it all depends on the rest of your life and whatever you do with it. I think that this film is a very positive film. It’s not about death, it’s not about being caught in a strait jacket. It is about wanting to overcome the difficulties in your life and about this hero who does it so superbly with a little help luckily from a nurse with good patience. But I think this is a very positive story. I hope people will accept it as that."
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is out in theaters now.
For the trailer, poster, more interviews, review and more movie info, go to The Diving Bell and the Butterfly Movie Page.
Fred Topel
Sources: Image property of Miramax Films.
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