The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

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The Diving Bell and the Butterfly ★★★½ Le Scaphandre et le Papillon 2007 (PG-13)

The true story of French “Elle” magazine editor Jean-Dominique Bauby, who suffered a stroke that left him completely paralyzed but for his left eyelid. The film chronicles the process by which Bauby dictated his memoir by blinking that left eye as an assistant spoke the alphabet, signifying each individual letter with every blink. As if Bauby's story isn't tragic enough, he died just two days after his book was published in France. An emotionally wrenching, at times difficult to watch, poetic and richly-cinematic journey ripe with colorful and sensual images from Bauby's past life and his fully-functioning inner world as imagined by director Schnable. In French with subtitles and named after Bauby's biography. 112m/C DVD . FR Mathieu Amalric, Emmanuelle Seigner, Marie Josee Croze, Patrick Chesnais, Max von Sydow, Anne Consigny, Isaach de Bankole, Niels Arestrup; D: Julian Schnabel; W: Ronald Harwood; C: Janusz Kaminski. British Acad. '07: Adapt. Screenplay; Golden Globes '08: Director (Schnabel), Foreign Film; Ind. Spirit '08: Cinematog., Director (Schnabel).

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