Jean-Dominique Bauby AKA “Jean-Do,” the high-flying editor of French Elle and father of two, was renowned for his sense of humor and style, his joie de vivre and amorous energy, when, in an instant, his world was plunged into the depths of catastrophe. Faced with a harrowing predicament, Jean-Do will use enormous courage and determination but, most of all, his soaring imagination to escape from his trap.

Tapping into the limitlessness of his memories, fantasies, wit and wishes, he finds a way to race through experiences of wonder and grief, sex and love, fatherhood and childhood, faith and questioning, ecstasy and absurdity and touches the very essence of what it is to be human. Along the way he is buoyed by a quintet of remarkable women: Celine, the mother of his children who remains devoted to him despite his betrayal; Ines, the girlfriend who still haunts him; Henriette and Marie, who give Jean-Do the power to re-connect with the world and his loved ones; and Claude, who becomes his ravishing literary assistant.

Directed by
Julian Schnabel

Cast
Mathieu Amalric - Jean-Dominique Bauby
Emmanuelle Seigner - Celine Desmoulin
Anne Consigny - Claude
Emma De Caunes - Empress Eugenie
Max von Sydow - Papinou
Marie-Josee Croze - Henriette Roi
Patrick Chesnais - Dr Lepage
Niels Arestrup - Roussin
Olatz Lopez Garmendia - Marie Lopez

Production Co.
Kennedy/Marshall Company
Pathe Renn Productions
France 3 Cinema
CRRAV Nord Pas de Calais

Produced by
Pierre Grunstein
Leonard Glowinski
Jon Kilik
Kathleen Kennedy
Jim Lemley

Studio
Miramax Films

Writer
Jean-Dominique Bauby
Ronald Harwood

Music
Paul Cantelon