The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Le scaphandre et le papillon (2007)

GENRES: Drama

The true story of Elle France editor Jean-Dominique Bauby, who, in 1995 at the age of 43, suffered a stroke that paralyzed his entire body, except his left eye. Using that eye to blink out his memoir, Bauby eloquently described the aspects of his interior world, from the psychological torment of being trapped inside his body to his imagined stories from lands he'd only visited in his mind.

12 Kinolab Clips

This is Life?

Magazine editor Jean-Dominique (Jean-Do) Bauby awakes from a coma to find himself suffering from locked-in syndrome in a hospital in Berck-sur-Mer, France.

Duration: 00:09:37
Contributor: Allison Cooper

Occlusion

A loss of function leads doctors to suture one of Bauby's eyes.

Duration: 00:01:52
Timestamp: 00:15:03
Contributor: Allison Cooper

I

Bauby learns a new system of communication and communicates his first word, "I".

Duration: 00:02:59
Timestamp: 00:22:27
Contributor: Allison Cooper

A Visit from a Long-Lost Friend

Bauby receives a visit from a friend, Pierre Roussin, who spent several years as a hostage in Beirut after Bauby gave him his own seat on a plane that would then be hijacked.

Duration: 00:03:10
Timestamp: 00:29:27
Contributor: Allison Cooper

Imagination and Memory

Bauby finds a way to free himself of the diving bell by embracing his own imagination and memories.

Duration: 00:03:01
Timestamp: 00:41:00
Contributor: Allison Cooper

Jean-Do’s Story Begins

As Bauby begins to narrate his autobiography, his words simultaneously conjure up the past and present of the Naval Hospital in Berck-sur-Mer, including its former tuberculosis patients and the dancer Nijinsky.

Duration: 00:02:34
Timestamp: 00:45:56
Contributor: Allison Cooper