The Diving Bell and the Butterfly: The Reduced Script

FADE IN:

INT. ARTISTICALLY-LIGHTED HOSPITAL

DOCTORS

(to the audience)

Hello Mr. Mathieu Amalric, you are suffering from an extremely innovative movie premise that is also known as the locked-in syndrome, where a character can think normally but otherwise is completely paralyzed.

(pause)

The rarity of this premise will require us to eliminate all the pivotal moments that make Bauby's book outstanding and instead focus on this movie's overwhelming artistic achievements: first-person shots and voice overs.

LOCKED-IN MATHIEU AMALRIC (V. O.)

What a ground-breaking attempt to build a movie's appeal exclusively on two very specific, narrowly-defined movie techniques! Just to add to the creativity, I will also write, er, BLINK OUT a book about it.

He DOES. It is overwhelmingly sensitive and moving, because it is shot in FIRST-PERSON and has VOICE OVERS. He thinks about things, which is all about BEING LOCKED-IN; he also remembers things, most of which is about NOT BEING LOCKED-IN; he then lets his unlimited imagination roam, which is strictly limited to NOT BEING LOCKED-IN and MAKING OUT WITH BEAUTIFUL WOMEN THAT AREN'T HIS WIFE.

LOCKED-IN MATHIEU AMALRIC (V. O.)

How I long to interact with my neglected family and not be locked-in.

This provides an UNEXPECTED and poignant insight into the human nature. Eventually, he remembers how he got paralyzed and then gets raving reviews for his book.

CUE: INSPIRING, ARTSY MUSIC

END