Imagine being unable to move, except for blinking your left eyelid. Now imagine using 200,000 of those blinks to write a book about your life before and after losing the ability to move.

After suffering a stroke, journalist Jean-Dominique Bauby’s life was quite literally in lock-down. Based on his French memoir, the movie The Diving Bell and the Butterfly follows his journey before and after his stroke and subsequent condition of locked-in syndrome.

Now Psi Chi and Psychos, two UVic student groups, will use The Diving Bell and the Butterfly to raise money for the Vancouver Island Brain Injury Society. They’ll be showing the movie on Thursday, Nov. 19, at 7 p.m. in MacLaurin A144.

"What makes [the movie] so compelling is it's about the isolation of the patient ... an extreme form of what we always have: there's a distance between us," said Dr. Steve Lindsay, a Psi Chi Faculty Advisor.

The groups plan to use the movie night as more than a fundraiser, however.

"Our main goal this year is to develop a better sense of community among psychology students,” said Rachel Caulfield, UVic’s Psi Chi Chapter President. “We held an orientation for new psych students at the beginning of the year and plan to have drop-in hours for students to receive help and advice in the spring.”

Psychos is the course union for UVic psychology students. Psi Chi, founded in 1929, is the National Honour Society in Psychology. Members can join once they have declared their major in psychology and meet a minimum GPA requirement.

"Psi Chi is all about the intersection of excellence and community for students in psychology,” said Lindsay.

Admission to the movie night is by donation and all proceeds go to charity. The suggested donation is $2.