The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, a French-U.S. co-production released in North America in French with English subtitles, is based on the memoir by Jean-Dominique Bauby published in France under the title Le scaphandre et le papillon [which, in English, means "The Diver and the Butterfly"], which was the film’s working title. Bauby, the editor for the French fashion magazine Elle, became the victim of “locked-in syndrome” after suffering a severe stroke at the age of forty-three. As depicted in the film, Bauby was hospitalized at the Berck-sur-Mer hospital in France. Although he retained his sense of touch, he had no ability to speak or move, except for the use of one eye. A speech therapist developed the alphabet transcription process that was depicted in the film. Blinking to choose letters, Bauby dictated his memoir, letter by letter.
       Before the opening credits, a scene takes place from the point of view of the character "Jean-Do," who has recently suffered a stroke and is regaining consciousness after three weeks in a coma. His vision is blurred and voices fade in and out as he tries to focus on his surroundings, including the doctors and nurses at the French hospital in which he is confined. Most of the film continues through Jean-Do's point of view, interspersed with scenes from his memories and also his imagination. The intercut scenes include those featuring Jean-Do in a diving bell, sinking in the sea when he feels suffocated by his condition, and fields of butterflies and flowers when he wishes himself to be freed of physical or mental constraint. During the closing credits, footage of an iceberg shearing off and falling into the sea is shown in reverse, as if rebuilding itself.
       Actor Mathieu Amalric is heard throughout the film in voice-over narration as Bauby’s internal voice, reacting to his surroundings but unheard by the hospital staff, his friends or family. After the cast list in the opening credits, special acknowledgment is given to Azzedine Alaïa, Michael Wincott, Jean-Baptiste Mondino, Lenny Kravitz and Farida Khelfa, who played themselves in the film.
       In addition, acknowledgment is given for various images used in the film including Galatee Films for the use of stills from Le peuple migrateur and The Marlon Brando Living Trust for stills of the actor. Special thanks was given to the staff and patients at Les Hopitaux de Paris and L'hôpital Maritime de Berck-sur-Mer, where Bauby received his care and where most of the film was shot. Several fashion designers are acknowledged including Hermès, Burberry and Louis Vuitton. The closing credits include a list of people at various locations in Paris, Berck-sur-Mer and Lourdes who assisted the filmmakers. Acknowledgment is also given to several musicians featured on the film's soundtrack including U2, Lou Reed, Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan.
       The closing credits end with the following statement: "ALIS Association du Locked-In Syndrome. Today, it is estimated that there are several thousand people around the world who suffer from Locked-In Syndrome, 2,500 in the United States, 6,000 in Europe, 500 in France. By founding ALIS on the 5th of March 1997, Jean-Dominique Bauby meant to show that human beings are capable of overcoming this illness which keeps them locked away inside themselves and which robs them of the language of gesture and speech. Today, ALIS bring psychological and financial support to the patients and to their families. The association collects funds so that people with LIS can acquire the special equipment which will allow them to leap over the walls of their prison."
       While the filmmakers stated in the onscreen credits that they took "artistic license" in the description of Bauby's friends and associates, an item in the 17 Dec 2007 Los Angeles Times noted that the film accurately portrayed “locked-in syndrome,” including the limited movement of just the eyes and the victims’ high mortality rate from complications due to common illnesses like pneumonia. According to a 22 Dec 2007 Los Angeles Times article, director Julian Schnabel, who interviewed Bauby’s associates for the film, added more intimacy to the relationships between Bauby and his various female acquaintances, who were portrayed more discreetly in the memoir. Schnabel stated in an Oct 2007 Esquire article that each female character who used the repetitious alphabet to communicate with Bauby created a beautiful "love chant" with the language.
       Contemporary news items offer the following information on the production: A 30 May 1997 Hollywood Reporter article noted that The Goldwyn Entertainment Co., Columbia Pictures and Egg Pictures sought to acquire Bauby’s autobiography, but DreamWorks SKG and Sony bought the rights, then hired Scott Hicks to direct and Ron Bass to adapt the book for the screen. According to a 30 Jun 1997 Publishers Weekly article, Wild Dancer Films was also involved in the purchase of the rights. The 20 Jun 2003 Hollywood Reporter stated that the film rights were owned by Universal Pictures, who assigned the picture to producers Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall, with Ronald Harwood set to write the screenplay.
       On 20 Feb 2004 Daily Variety reported that Universal had set Schnabel to direct the film and was in negotiations with Johnny Depp to star. The article added that Bass never wrote a script for the film. A 13 Oct 2006 Screen International article reported that Pathé Renn had acquired international distribution rights for the film and, soon after, production began on the film. According to the 19 Oct 2007 Screen International, after Universal had sidelined the project, producer Jon Kilik took the film to Pathé. A 23 May 2007 Los Angeles Times item noted that Depp had agreed to do the film on the condition that Schnabel direct it; however, Depp had previous commitments that prevented his involvement.
       The 25 May 2007 Daily Variety reported that Schnabel brought in Kilik, who then insisted the film be shot in France and in the French language to follow the memoir. The onscreen credits state that in addition to Berck-sur-Mer, the location sites included Paris, Lourdes and Toulon. As noted in the same Daily Variety article, Kilik and Schnabel, who is a well-known painter as well as a motion picture director, had worked together on two previous films, also about real-life, tragic figures: the black, New York painter Jean-Michel Basquiat in Basquiat (1996) and gay, Cuban poet Reinaldo Arenas in Before Night Falls (2001, see entry).
       A 7 Dec 2007 Entertainment Weekly item stated that at the time Bauby was dictating his memoir, he expressed interest in seeing it developed into a film. The 22 Dec 2007 Los Angeles Times indicated that Schnabel was moved to make the film by his own experiences caring for his elderly father, who, after being diagnosed with cancer, lived until his death with the director and his wife, actress Olatz Lopez Garmendia, who played a nurse in this picture. The 23 May 2007 Los Angeles Times added that Schnabel was also influenced by his experiences with his friend Fred Hughes, who was unable to talk at the end of his life because of complications due to multiple sclerosis.
       According to a 5 Nov 2007 Variety article, Harwood initially had difficulty with the material, but then borrowed an idea from his Oscar-winning script for the 2002 film The Pianist to tell the story through Bauby’s internal life with voice-over narration. A 16 Nov 2007 Hollywood Reporter article stated that Harwood interviewed the mother of Bauby’s children and one of his therapists to aid him in developing the script. His screenplay, which was based on an adaptation of the English translation of the memoir, was written in English, then translated back into French prior to filming.
       After the film had its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on 22 May 2007, Miramax bought the North American distribution rights. Subsequent to Cannes, the film was screened at the Toronto and New York Film Festivals, as well as AFI Fest, where it won the Audience Award. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly was selected as one of AFI's Movies of the Year for 2007, and the National Board of Review named it as the year's Best Foreign Film. The picture received two Golden Globes, for Best Director--Motion Picture and for Best Foreign Language Film, and was nominated for Best Screenplay. Schnabel was awarded the Best Director Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, as well as being nominated by the Directors Guild of America for directorial achievement in a feature film. Harwood received a Writers Guild of America nomination for his adapted screenplay, and the film was nominated by the Producers Guild of America for its Darryl F. Zanuck Producer of the Year Award. The Los Angeles Film Critics Association awarded Janusz Kaminski for Best Cinematography.
       The Diving Bell and the Butterfly was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Directing, Best Film Editing, Best Art Direction and Best Adapted Screenplay. The film won Independent Spirit Awards for Best Director and Best Cinematography, and was nominated for Best Feature and Best Screenplay. In addition, the film won a BAFTA for Adapted Screenplay and was nominated in the Film Not in the English Language category.