A gentle and tragic adaptation from director Julian Shnabel of the 1977 memoir of Jean-Dominique Bauby who developed a case of locked-in-syndrome impeding his faculties of movement and speech. This film works on a binary: on the one hand we delve into the protagonist's mind (played by Mathieu Amalric) and visit his fantasies and memories before returning abruptly to the harsh and clinical real world where Bauby's recovery is painfully slow. The twofold structure works magnificently and the camera moves seamlessly. Triumphant also is the feat achieved by Bauby as he learns to communicate via the only movement he has access to- his fluttering eyelid. The film manages to conjure a whole realm of emotion whilst playful light humour peeps its head around the corner from time to time.