The actual events of this true story are well documented. Young and talented Jean Dominic Bauby, (Matieu Amalric) a dynamic editor at French Elle magazine is suddenly hit by a catastrophic stroke, leaving him incapable of speech or movement. He has a rare illness referred to as "locked in" syndrome. He can see out of one eye (doctors have helpfully sewn the other one shut, while he is still awake) and he can hear well enough. And one other thing. He can blink.

Remembering that he has some time back agreed to a book deal, he and the incredibly patient speech therapist assigned to him devise a way that he can write that book. The therapist recites the alphabet and he blinks once, to determine each letter. And in this maddeningly slow way, they set about writing a whole book. The result, The Diving Bell And The Butterfly, published just eight days before Bauby's death, became a best seller in France.

You'd think, wouldn't you, that any film based upon such a static premise wouldn't have a hope in hell of holding a viewer's attention?

Happily, you'd be wrong, because this film, directed by Julian Schnabel, is an absolute revelation, full of incident and haunting imagery, and quite simply one of the most inspirational stories I have ever seen. It's a credit to Schnabel (and to Brit playwright Ronald Harwood) that the viewer isn't bored for one moment. I urge anyone who is interested in the writing process and who has ever complained how difficult it is, to view this at the earliest opportunity. You may emerge feeling a little humbled but you will also have been mightily entertained.