“The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”

A film about a paralyzed man who can communicate only by blinking his left eyelid doesn’t sound like much fun. In fact, director Julian Schnabel reported at Cannes (where the film won the best director award) that his own wife said, “Give me a break. You always make movies about people who are dying or dead.” Added Schnabel, “I didn’t see it like that. I said, ‘It’s going to be really funny.’ ” And it is. Against considerable odds, Schnabel has made “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” into a film that’s simultaneously uplifting and melancholic, suffused with an unexpected sense of possibility as much as the inevitable sense of loss. Try it, you’ll like it.