During one of my frequent hospitalizations as a kid, the nursing staff in the ICU created a laminated spelling board for me to use as a communication tool until the respirator could be removed from my throat. The cumbersome process of pointing at letters to express myself caused me to lose my patience on several occasions. My words trickled out at a maddeningly slow pace, crude approximations of the thoughts racing through my head. But my own brief experience with losing my speech faculties pales in comparison to that of Jean-Dominique Bauby in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, based on his book of the same name.
Bauby, the editor of Elle magazine, had a massive stroke that left him completely paralyzed, able to blink only his left eye. He learns to communicate again by having the alphabet recited to him and blinking to indicate the letter he desires, slowly spelling out words and sentences. Through this method, he eventually writes a book about his life with locked-in syndrome. Aiding him in his endeavor are several beautiful and compassionate women: therapists, assistants, and former girlfriends. Never has the alphabet sounded so alluring. But the film really shines in conveying how Bauby’s universe has shrunk after his stroke, encompassing little more than the confines of his room and the hospital grounds.
People who have seen the film say that towards the end of it, they felt a passionate need to go out into the fields or run down some streets, to feel some fresh air etc., but at the same time this film expressed people’s the love of life in ANY way it can be lived.