Jean-Dominique Bauby (Mathieu Amalric), the editor of Elle France, suffered a stroke that left his body completely paralyzed, except for his left eye, while his mind remained unaffected. Despite his affliction, suffered in 1995 when he was 43, Bauby used his eye to blink out a memoir, letter by letter, then died two days after it was published. The book describes his pre-stroke life, what it was like to be a prisoner inside his useless body and imagined journeys to exotic places he'd never visited.