Le Scaphandre et le Papillon (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly)
Why we chose this film
What are you grateful for?
It often takes an exceptional event to trigger gratitude.
Whether it is a moment of joy or a tragedy we witness, gratitude isn’t necessarily something we experience on a daily basis.
We usually tend to focus on what we lack or what’s not going our way.
What would life look like if we appreciated everything we had?
The fact that we are alive seems reason enough to welcome every day with joy.
However we aren’t wired this way, hence why we always fall back into the trap of negativity and pessimism.
Gratitude provides a sense of humility and allows us to see our common humanity.
It is a practice that can change the way we experience life.
At this moment in time it may be exactly what society needs.
Film Summary
Jean-Dominique Bauby, editor-in-chief of French fashion bible Elle magazine, has a devastating stroke at age 43. The damage to his brain stem results in locked-in syndrome, with which he is almost completely paralysed, except his left eye. Using that eye to blink out his memoir, Bauby eloquently describes 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.