7. The Diving Bell And The Butterfly (Comas or Locked-In Syndrome)
Seriously, can you think of anything more boring than a coma? Just getting through a grueling workweek is often a practice in mental and physical fortitude, and you probably have had coma fantasies on more than one occasion. But in reality, comas are not fun, but The Diving Bell and The Butterfly is an entrancing film. Adapted from the actual 1995 memoir of Jean-Dominique Bauby, the former editor-in-chief of Elle magazine. At only age 43, Bauby suffered a massive stroke which left him paralyzed from the neck down. The only form of communication at his disposal were his eyelids, and in the film, a conscious protagonist struggles to learn an entire new form of communication via blinking. Julian Schnabel's film adds a stunning depth during flashback scenes where we see Bauby in his pre-locked-in-syndrome life. Sitting in his hospital bed, Bauby has time to reflect on all of the bad decisions he made in the past, and how little he cherished his esteemed life as the editor of a major fashion magazine. Bauby decides to take his newfound wisdom and put it to good use, employing his blinking-eye technique to pen a memoir with the help of publishing assistant.