Cast and Crew:   Julian Schnabel (Director); Jean-Pierre Cassel, Max Von Sydow

What It’s About: Jean-Dominique Bauby (Mathieu Amalric), the editor of Elle, is left with the use of only one eye after a massive stroke. Jean-Do, as he’s known, retreats into his memories and fantasies while learning to communicate with his speech therapist (Marie-Josée Croze) via blinking. Eventually he uses his blinking system to blink out an account of his condition, which was published just two days before he died of pneumonia.

Why Watch it Today?: The accident that left Jean-Do paralyzed occurred on this date in 1995.  The Diving Bell and the Butterfly features an excellent cast and strikes the right balance between meditations on life, Jean-Do’s story, tragedy, triumph, and fantasy, and is beautifully shot.