Science on Screen: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

Date/Time
Date(s) - 05/20/2015
7:00 pm

Location
Cinema Arts Centre

Category(ies) No Categories

Science on Screen: An Initiative of The Coolidge Corner Theater  with major support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

Julian Schnabel’s The Diving Bell and the Butterfly 

Guest Speaker: Clinical Neuropsychologist Dr.Deborah M. Benson

Join Dr. Deborah Benson for an insightful exploration of the true story of Elle magazine editor Jean-Dominique Bauby, played by Mathieu Amalric, who suffered a stroke in 1995 that rendered him mute and almost completely paralyzed, in this adaptation of Bauby’s autobiography, which he dictated by blinking his left eye.

Members $10 / Public $15. Tickets can be purchased online, www.CinemaArtsCentre.org or at the box office during theater hours.

Julian Schnabel’s “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”:

Starring MATHIEU AMALRIC and EMANUELLE SEIGNER

Guest Speaker: clinical neuropsychologist Deborah M. Benson

On December 8, 1995, Jean-Dominique Bauby, a Elle editor and father of two children, suffered a stroke which plunged him into a deep coma. When he regained consciousness, all his motor body functions had deteriorated. He’d been struck by what is known in the medical profession as “locked-in syndrome:” he could no longer move, speak nor even breathe without medical assistance. The only part of his inert body capable of moving was his left eye. This eye became his link with the world, with others, with life. He’d blink once to say “yes,” twice to say “no.” With his single eye, he’d focus visitors’ attention on letters of the alphabet dictated to him and form words, sentences, entire pages. With his eye, he wrote this book The Bell Jar and the Butterfly, for which, each morning during long weeks, he’d memorized sentences before dictating them. (France/USA, 2007, 112 min., PG-13, in French with English subtitles, DCP | Dir. Julian Schnabel)

Guest Speaker Dr. Deborah Benson is a New York State-licensed psychologist with a Ph.D. in Clinical Neuropsychology from the City University of New York and Board Certification in Rehabilitation Psychology from the American Board of Professional Psychology. She is a
Senior Director of Clinical Services for Paradigm Outcomes, the nation’s leading provider of complex and catastrophic medical management. Over the course of her rehabilitation career, she has conducted research in neuroscience, provided/managed care for patients and families, taught/supervised neuropsychology students, coauthored/edited scholarly articles/books on brain injury rehabilitation, and presented at regional/national conferences. She has served on several organizational boards, received numerous advocacy awards and founded Common Ground Alliance, a nonprofit membership organization on Long Island promoting long-term support and wellness for individuals with neurologic conditions and their families.