MovieChat Forums > Le scaphandre et le papillon (2008) Discussion > jean do, what an a$$hole ***spoilers pos...

jean do, what an a$$hole spoilers possible

posted 17 years ago by FATHERKING
37 replies | jump to latest

this guy has a wife and 3 kids. ok, he was divorced but still, after he got locked-in they were there for him. spending time with him, taking care of him.

especially his ex wife. my god what an angel!

the guy loves women, we can see that. even in his condition he always looks at womens bodies, fantasizing about them constantly. this could all be allright by me, but after the phone call from his lover, i couldnt help but say out loud "what an a$$hole"!

i mean come on man, there is this woman u were once married and have kids with, she takes care of your needs, she obviously symphatizes with you, she loves you so much that she talks to your lover FOR YOU! and what do you do, you ungrateful little bastard? you tell your girlfriend "i wait for you to come everyday". she hasnt even visited you once!!!! she says she tried to visit but couldnt, but i find that very hard to believe.

anyways, i know that jean do is in a very unpleasant state, and we have to feel bad for him, and we DO feel bad for him. but still i would expect him, after he got so much time on his hands to think about his life, he would know who REALLY loves him and who doesnt.

if i were his wife i would probably leave him at his bed after that phone call and never want to see him again. perhaps she was a bigger person than i am.

Would you like :) sauce with that?

[–] MissGelly 17 years ago

a) He was never married.
b) He'd been split from his partner and living with his girlfriend for several months before the accident. It isnt really that much of a stretch to understand why he'd want to see the woman he lives with.

But hey, if that's all you can get from the film, then it's probably not the film for you.

[–] jamesmolloy 17 years ago

Well it's this whole situation that kind of makes the situation a compelling story. If this had happened to a really nice person it'd be very bleak. But the fact is he was a bit of a prick. And while he does become a better person, he doesn't become a perfect person.

[–] sietz 17 years ago

I agree!
I didn't like how he made her leave the room! I thought that was so rude!!!!
And the girlfriend was like "I'll always be there for you" - but it was such a lie...she never even went to see him!

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] zcid47 17 years ago

i agree that Jean-Do was a total a$sh0le in that scene..
and not because he just didn't love Celine ..he was an *beep* because he didn't showed the least respect to the woman who raised his children and has taken care of him since he had the stroke ..he kinda humiliated Celine making her saying whatever he wanted to say to the other woman ..
Celine ended up hurted badly after that because she obviously still loved Jean-Do, and he certainly knew it too and didn't respected that neither..

and i have no doubts that before his accident Jean-Do was an as$h0le.

and Emanuelle Seigner was simply amazing in that scene.

..

[–] dragons-12 17 years ago

I would recommend everyone to read this http://www.salon.com/ent/feature/2008/02/23/diving_bell/ before judging the man on the movie alone.

[–] dawn_a_net 17 years ago

I think asking for a minute alone does not constitute being an *beep*

[–] b_l_at 17 years ago

- Imagine you are locked up inside your head, totally helpless, totally dependent.

- Imagine your ex-wife comes to look after you. You probably have fought with her a lot, there are lots of hurtful feelings from the time you spent together.

- You never asked for her help, perhaps you don't even want it, but you have zero chance of ever getting away from it. You are totally dependent on someone you don't love anymore.

- And now you are forced to accept her kindness, and you know you should be grateful.. but.. at the same time, you wish nothing more than to be able to leave thaf f'cking room and be with the woman you love.

- Perhaps she is wearing that perfume that you always hated so much, and there are all those memories running around in your head, and there is nothing - NOTHING - that you can do to change it.

I really don't have the courage to judge a man in this situation for ANY action.

[–] tintin-23 17 years ago

FATHERKING. I am an atheist, but since, in the USA, I have 75% chance that you are a Christian, let me tell you (I'll give you the whole chapter and verse) and to all the a$$holes who think Bauby is one of them (excuse me for screaming, but I HATE hypocrites)

1 “Stop judging that YOU may not be judged; 2 for with what judgment YOU are judging, YOU will be judged; and with the measure that YOU are measuring out, they will measure out to YOU. 3 Why, then, do you look at the straw in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the rafter in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Allow me to extract the straw from your eye’; when, look! a rafter is in your own eye? 5 Hypocrite! First extract the rafter from your own eye, and then you will see clearly how to extract the straw from your brother’s eye. (Matthew 7:1-5)

[–] dansemave 11 years ago

That's an excellent post. I'm impressed with your emotional insight.

[–] jerryrip54 17 years ago

While I agree with you on the wife-being-an-angel part, you and the rest of the posters are all making fools of yourselves with this thread. The woman who leaves the room so he can talk to his girlfriend is NOT his ex-wife, but the woman, Josephine, who is "hired" to be his translator and secretary. What a bunch of nincompoops. Look closer when you watch a film.

[–] cableface 17 years ago

I remember a line in a review for In The Name Of The Father which I always thought was great, and which I think applies here:

"....this is so sure of itself that it doesn't mind depicting its hero as less than a perfect martyr...."

(That review is on Empire if you're interested)

Not that I think this film has anything to do with that film, but I think the sentiment is the same. The film doesn't need to show Jean-Do as a shining example of a human being who has this horrible disaster inflicted on him. He's just a guy, who has good and bad characteristics about him. Sure, he's a serial womaniser, and we see how insensitive he can be. But he also loves his kids, and he's very caring towards his father. As others here have said, it's about how he learns to change as a result of what happens, rather than mourning the loss of a "perfect" man.

If they had made him too great before the stroke, it would have pushed this film towards sentimentality. As it is, they got it just right.

[–] tintin-23 17 years ago

jerryrip54, your stupidity, is it genetic or are you doing it in purpose?

IN THE FILM, Céline (Emmanuelle Seigner), Bauby's estranged partner and NOT his ex-wife, is at Bauby's bed side when his present girlfriend, Inès (Agathe de La Fontaine), calls.

Claude (Anne Consigny) is the ghostwriter. She is NOT the person next to Bauby when Inès calls.

Josephine(Marina Hands) was the woman with whom he went to Lourdes.

IN REAL LIFE, Bauby's present girl friend, named Florence, was at Bauby's bedside practically every day. De la Rochfoucauld, his estranged partner, came to see him at the hospital, alone, every Tuesdays, and many weekends, with the children.

When Bauby died, it was not Claude at his bedside, it was Florence. De la Rochfoucauld was in New York, with her new boyfriend, rock journalist Philippe Manoeuvre, when Bauby passed away.

I realize it's a little bit complicated for your little brain, but that the way it happened in and out of the film.

[–] bodge8 17 years ago

jerryrip54: I find it difficult to believe you only saw the film a couple of days ago and still had the temerity to come out with your quite frankly baffling statement. I realise there was more than one woman in the film and that they were all pretty attractive, but that doesn't excuse confusing 2 of the main ones in a critical scene which completely loses its emotional impact if, as you claim, the woman in it is merely his transcriber. All of the people close to him learnt to read out the alphabet as per his speech therapists method.
I suggest that YOU watch closer and THINK a little harder when watching a film....nincompoop.

As for Jean-Do being an *r$ehole, I think that scene adds a much valued flawed element to his character and makes him seem even more real, to us the viewers.
I appreciated the lack of sentimentality in his saying that he'll wait for her each day rather than dismissing her in favour of his former partner.
It also, in light of the excellent article from salon.com, serves to ensure that Jean-Do is seen to state his unending love for his then girlfriend Florence which is more true to life. A kind of meeting half way between what really happened and the dramatised version we see on screen.

In general, a stunning film, beautifully made, deeply touching and inspirational.

[–] MissGelly 17 years ago

Oh Jerry! You are what make IMDB what it is!!! What a jewel you are!

Best laugh i've had all day...thanks.

[–] alkamal_r 17 years ago

Oh dear. You could've at least double-checked somehow before coming out with such a bold claim.

Your last sentence is just priceless.

Ironically, this isn't even ironic at all.

[–] sietz 17 years ago

umm...jerryrip - you're on the wrong scene or something. its def. his ex wife.

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[–] 17 years ago

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[–] sigsauergirl 17 years ago

"jean do is in a very unpleasant state"

That's possibly the greatest understatmenet I've ever heard of.

[–] Joshieboyucla 17 years ago

Exactly, he was a bit of a prick, which made it kind of tough for one to sympathize with him and his story. Sure, it was sad and depressing and no one deserves such a horrible condition, but I just couldn't sympathize with him ... I usually cry with this type of movies... where the human condition is tested and they overcome insurmountable obstacles, but this just didn't do it for me... nada, zero, squat!

.;*We Live Inside A Dream*;.

[–] wshirley 17 years ago

My son was ejected through the windshield of his VW van about 8 years ago, leaving him in a coma for several weeks and then in a locked in state. I am very familiar with traumatic brain injuries as a result, including those caused by strokes. The actions of a man trapped in his body after such a terrible injury cannot be examined by healthy people nor can normal standards of behavior be expected to be maintained when you can't even tell the people wiping your butt that their breath stinks of garlic and coffee. The point is a massive brain injury changes everything you know about yourself and your life. His girlfriend did not come to see him but his ex did. Not one of my son's friends, even his close lady friends, bothered to come see him in eight long years. My best friend refused to even ride down with me to the hospital while I visited him so I would not have to drive home alone. Jean Bauby wrote a masterpiece of a book by blinking an eye. This movie does a magnificent job of translating his gift to the screen. I wish I could somehow get a copy of it to my son. We could crank up his bed and watch it with him. It's just so sad that my son can't even blink his eye for me yet.

[–] CutieMcFreckles 17 years ago

wshirley, I hope you will be able to share this movie with your son

best wishes

art is life-intensified, brilliant life

[–] wichaidi 17 years ago

All the best to your son and everybody that loves him, Wshirley. I wish lives were easier.

[–] CutieMcFreckles 17 years ago

french folk love their ladies

art is life-intensified, brilliant life

[–] teal123 17 years ago

You, sir, are what is referred to as a "player hater".

[–] ensp73 17 years ago

Movies aren't totally real life. He had two kids not three. As others said, he wasn't married and he was already broken up with the mother of his children. And lastly, his girlfriend was there day by day, not the woman who was mother of his children. The movie probably got swayed to make the mother of the children look good because she had much control over the permissions for the movie to be made (as is the case in France). Their children are the heirs of this story and his money.

This link will let you know what those who truly knew Jean separating fact from fiction.

http://www.salon.com/ent/feature/2008/02/23/diving_bell/index.html

No doubt it was a fantastic movie on his life in general and on locked-in syndrome!

jean do, what an a$$hole ***spoilers possible***

jean do, what an a$$hole spoilers possible