Coolidge Theatre Science on Screen Series

Film The Diving Bell and the Butterfly with neuroscientist Frank Guenther
Coolidge Corner Theatre, 290 Harvard Street, Brookline, MA

In 1995, at age 43, Jean-Dominique Bauby, the successful and charismatic editor of Elle France magazine, suffered a massive stroke that left him with a rare condition called locked-in syndrome – mentally alert but unable to speak or move except for his left eye. With the help of a speech therapist, he learned to communicate by blinking that eye to signify letters of the alphabet. Blink by blink, letter by letter, he dictated a memoir, which became an international bestseller and the basis for artist and director Julian Schnabel’s fiercely beautiful film. Working with the brilliant cinematographer Janusz Kaminski (Lincoln, Saving Private Ryan), Schnabel immerses us in Bauby's interior world — his memories, reveries, fantasies, loves and lusts — transforming a story of physical entrapment and spiritual renewal into exhilarating images. Join us before the film for a talk by Frank Guenther, a professor in the Departments of Speech, Language & Hearing Sciences and Biomedical Engineering at Boston University, where he is also associate director of the Graduate Program in Neuroscience. Professor Guenther uses a combination of brain imaging and computational modeling to characterize the brain networks involved in speech, and develops brain-machine interfaces (BMIs) that can restore speech and other capabilities to patients with locked-in syndrome. BMIs have produced astonishing laboratory demonstrations of locked-in patients controlling computers, speech synthesizers, and robotic arms using only their thoughts. Clinical trials are ongoing for several BMIs, promising a much more normal life for those with locked-in syndrome as these devices become widely available. Tickets are $10 general admission or $8 students and Museum of Science members. Coolidge Corner Theatre members get free admission. For more information, visit www.coolidge.org/content/diving-bell-and-butterfly.