Bath Film Festival 2007

The Diving Bell & The Butterfly (Le Scaphandre et Le Papillon)

Jean-Dominique Bauby was an editor on >em>Elle France, when at the age of 43, a stroke meant that he was unable to do more than grunt and move his left eyelid. In the circumstances, his decision to write about his experience was either extraordinarily brave or mad – or both. An amanuensis sat beside his bed, going through the alphabet letter by letter (in the order in which the letters are most commonly used in French); Bauby would blink when the correct letter was spoken, before moving on to the next. It’s almost impossible to conceive of the patience and persistence needed to achieve this feat, but the film not only captures the courage of the man, but also his humour and humanity, eschewing sentimentality and shallow life lessons for an unflinching and moving portrait of what is possible. PR

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