Diving Bell and the Butterfly

If you're not familiar with the story, the editor of Elle magazine suffered a stroke when he was 42, leaving him with "locked-in syndrome," meaning only his hearing, sight, and mind were left working. He communicated with blinks and managed to write an autobiography by signaling one letter at a time. Julian Schnabel directed the film based on that autobiography.

I had been saying that last year was not a great year for films; I would now say that this is the first great film for 2007. I loved Across the Universe and others, but in terms of ground breaking film, this is it. The film can be seen just as the story, and it is a great story, about love and loss and betrayal. But on another level, we are all in a diving bell at times, communicating inefficiently and frustratingly with other people. People don't do what we want even when we have speech and arms to direct them.

And obviously, it is also life affirming and a dramatic reminder that in a blink (no pun) everything can change. Driving his son to the theater in a brand new sports car, Jean-Dominique Bauby asks if it's hot, begins to stammer, and pulls the car off the road. That's it. No time to make amends, initially no way to communicate, and an unknown prognosis in terms of future progress.

The film is not sentimental, it is deeply moving, and really, profoundly beautiful.