Title:  Le scaphandre et le papillon (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly)

Director:  Julian Schnabel

Written by:  Jean-Dominique Bauby (Book) Ronald Harwood (Screenplay)

Language:   French

Year Released:  2007

I picked this movie up at the local library this weekend.  It has been out for a few years now, but I remember it getting good reviews and it had been on my list of movies to see.

This is one of those movies you need to take the time to sit and watch when you’re wallowing in your own personal pity party and feeling very sorry for yourself, when life is not going the way you had planned or envisioned it to be.

The opening scene is of a man coming out of a coma, only you are the man.  Your vision is blurred and the doctors are explaining to you how long you have been in a coma and they are asking you questions about who you are and about your wife and children.  You answer the questions, and then realize that no one can hear your answers.  Your vision is still blurred and limited,  you can hear and think, but you cannot speak or move.  It is as if you are locked in the chamber of a heavy motionless body unable to communicate your wants and needs.

The man is  Jean-Dominique Bauby, he is 43 years old and had a career most people only dream of,  the editor-in-chief of Elle magazine.  His lifestyle was exotic and included beautiful women, fast cars and world travel.

On December 8, 1995, Jean-Dominique’s life all but ended with a massive stroke that left him completely paralyzed with a rare condition called “locked in syndrome”.

Amazingly this man learns to communicate by only blinking his eye, and he wrote the book, which is this movie, about his experiences of being locked in his body.

Indeed a movie that makes you realize how much there is in life to be thankful for and how you need to appreciate what you already have.