The New York Times-20080127-In the Name of the Father

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In the Name of the Father

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For years, Julian Schnabel had The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, by Jean-Dominique Bauby, on his bookshelf. The autobiography of a man with locked-in syndrome, a rare form of stroke that paralyzes the body while the mind remains intact and vital, Bauby's memoir, which was published in 1997, having been painstakingly dictated by a blink of his left eye when the correct letter of the alphabet was read aloud, is a glimpse into the other side of consciousness. It is a surprisingly ebullient, liberated view of a man approaching what would seem to be a terrible fate. When Schnabel eventually read the book -- it was pushed on him by the performance artist Laurie Anderson when she was staying at his house in Montauk and she grabbed it from the stacks -- he began to see the cinematic possibilities, the ways in which reality could be blurred with memories and dreams. Schnabel's two other films, Basquiat and Before Night Falls, were both about artists and the ambitions that can thwart the creative process. Diving Bell could be, among other things, a further, more intense examination of how the creative mind can take flight, even in the face of a grim reality.

And yet, Schnabel still put the book aside. In 2003, his elderly father, Jack, became gravely ill with cancer. Like his son, Schnabel's father had never been sick, and he was terrified of death. In his last year he came to live with Julian and his family and, at that time, Schnabel was sent the script for The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, by Ronald Harwood. The material suddenly seemed entirely relevant. I wanted to help my father not to be scared of death, Schnabel told me recently. It was the only way I failed my father. And I didn't want to be scared of death, either. I wanted to make the movie to overcome that fear.

Max von Sydow, who plays the pivotal role of Bauby's aged father in the movie, didn't know about Julian's father and his importance until the actual day of shooting. Although Bauby is surrounded by a group of caretaking, devoted and beautiful women in the film, it is his singular relationship with his father that cements the audience's understanding of him. In their first scene together, an able-bodied Bauby shaves his 92-year-old father's face; it is the only time in the film when Bauby is not the center of attention.

After Julian sent me the script, von Sydow remembered over lunch this winter, we didn't discuss it very much. He didn't tell me that, in some ways, I would be playing his father. But movies are like that -- I had never met Mathieu Amalric (who plays Bauby) until the day of our first scene, and he had to shave me. It was rather intimate, and he did cut me. But it's always that way: you're supposed to be involved with someone in the film and you've just met them for the first time and then, 10 minutes later, you say, 'I love you,' and you are in bed.

Von Sydow, who is 77, is tall and imposing. On this chilly day in Manhattan, he was dressed in black pants and a sweater and all that darkness accentuated his large, noble head, close-cropped gray hair and rumbling voice. Von Sydow was accompanied by his wife, Catherine, who is French and lively. When I was making the film, it was impossible not to think about my father, von Sydow said as he ate his salad, the first course of a three-course lunch. I was born in Sweden, and my father, who was a professor of Scandinavian folklore, was 50 when I was born. When I was 20, he was 70, and on the day of his 70th birthday, he had a little stroke. Small strokes followed for the next four years. That changed him. And I regret that I was not more curious about him at that time. All the questions I would like to ask today, I haven't asked.

Although von Sydow's father saw his son perform in municipal-theater productions in Stockholm, it was another father figure, Ingmar Bergman, who recognized his acting potential. From The Virgin Spring in 1960, his fifth movie with Bergman, von Sydow became an international star. I actually know the moment I became known, von Sydow said. It was at the Cannes Film Festival, when they showed 'The Virgin Spring.' I walked into that theater as one person and I walked out as another.

Almost immediately, he was offered roles in Hollywood movies. They sent me 'Dr. No,' von Sydow recalled. They wanted me to play the villain. I said no. And then they offered me the part of Jesus in 'The Greatest Story Ever Told.' I said yes to that. For years, Hollywood only asked me to play a villain or a biblical figure. Von Sydow, who has long lived in Paris, always returned to Bergman, who made a film nearly every year in Sweden. It was not exactly a tonic, von Sydow explained, as he ate some grilled fish. But working with Bergman was always worthwhile. He was critical, but he had a wonderful way with his actors. He had extraordinary discipline about the work. Von Sydow paused. Bergman's death in 2007 affected him deeply. He had been ill for almost a year, but we had been in close contact over the phone. . . . Von Sydow's wife interrupted him. Tell about the last time he spoke about you, she said. Von Sydow paused again. He said, 'Max you have been the first and the best Stradivarius that I have ever had in my hands,' von Sydow recalled. We loved each other, and I know when he stopped working, when he became ill, he missed it. He missed his actors.

As much as anything, Diving Bell is about that kind of longing. In his final scene, Bauby's father phones his son in his hospital room. The sorrow and the compassion in von Sydow's voice is overwhelming. I understood then that this relationship was very personal to Julian, that the text as written contained many things that his own father had told him, explained von Sydow as a slice of chocolate cake arrived at the table. The words were very simple, very direct, but the connection between parent and child was unmistakable. Usually, I find playing a part can be cathartic. But this film was different. I had great difficulty getting rid of my emotion after making this movie.

[Illustration]PHOTOS (PHOTOGRAPHS BY JULIAN SCHNABEL)