Le Style du Scaphandre

Earlier this week we saw "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly," such a beautiful film. It captures the flickering interplay of memory, imagination, and perception like nothing I've ever seen.

There's much in the movie by which to be dazzled, but in the spirit of its protagonist's onetime position as editor of French Elle, I found myself particularly charmed by the style of the female characters (the hospital therapists, various mistresses, etc.). Beautifully groomed brows, tissue-thin blouses in polka dots and plaid, fluttery cotton dresses, and simple crosses around their necks. All this against the backdrop of an austere French seaside or a Paris balcony.

Even the numerous hospital scenes have a dreamy beauty, with the filtered coastal light through the windows and seafoam and robin's egg-painted walls. It's like an Anthropologie catalog come to life, and with redeeming cultural value, too. So I'm already looking forward to spring, when my style of choice will be French institutional chic.

Seriously though, brilliant movie. I highly recommend.