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The Diving Bell and the Butterfly: A must-see foreign film!

Nick and I saw this film over the summer and fell in love with it. This French film has subtitles but I noticed when watching it that I became so entranced with the film that I forgot they were there. It’s out on video now, so with the weather turning cooler, it’s a prime time to rent it!

It’s a high-profile story about the editor-in-chief of French Elle, who became trapped inside his body after a stroke during the prime of his life. This movie tells the story of how he faced the tragedy head on, dictating a memoir of his life titled In the Blink of an Eye (and here’s the amazing part!) using only his LEFT EYELID. If you aren’t inspired by this film, then I don’t know what will reach you!

Here’s the synopsis from the movie’s website:
From one of the most emotionally exhilarating and luminous bestsellers ever written comes the true story of a man who took an adversity beyond all imagining and transformed it into a testament to the irrepressible human urge to love, create and dream. With his third film, director and artist Julian Schnabel forges a visually stunning, heart-stirring ode to what drives a man to go on when all truly seems lost. Through a mesmerizing blast of color, beauty and humor, and a rousing spirit of creativity, Schnabel tells the story of Jean-Dominique Bauby , AKA Jean-Do, the high-flying editor of French Elle and father of two, who was renowned for his sense of humor and style, his joie de vivre and amorous energy, when, in an instant, his world was plunged into the depths of catastrophe.

Faced with a harrowing predicament, Jean-Do will use enormous courage and determination but, most of all, his soaring imagination to escape from his trap.  Tapping into the limitlessness of his memories, fantasies, wit and wishes, he finds a way to race through experiences of wonder and grief, sex and love, fatherhood and childhood, faith and questioning, ecstasy and absurdity  and touches the very essence of what it is to be human.