Black butterfly content. Black butterfly or the story of a crime

Do you want to watch a movie with an unexpected ending? Then “Black Butterfly” will help you pass the time pleasantly, and, if desired, give you a reason to think a little. I will say right away that in my opinion, the picture is somewhat boring, although it has a certain dynamics. But there are plenty of mysteries in it. In any case, I spent almost all the time trying to understand who was the maniac here and who was the victim. And only the final scenes put everything in its place.

Only a miracle will help!

To begin with, I’ll tell you a little about the plot of the film “Black Butterfly”. The once successful writer Paul, played by Antonio Banderas, is experiencing a creative crisis. After parting with his wife, who, by the way, disappeared under mysterious circumstances, he retired to a remote place in order to devote himself to writing.

But alas, everything written is rejected by the agents, and nothing worthwhile ever comes to mind. As a result, there is no inspiration, no money, and no opportunity to change anything. Our writer drinks, buys groceries on credit and hopes for a miracle. And then one day a very unusual story happens.

Still from the film “Black Butterfly”

Unpleasant incident

Having gone to the city to buy groceries, Paul gets involved in a conflict with some man. An unfamiliar guy comes to the rescue, he literally pulls the troublemaker out of the bar by the collar and after a short conversation, the discouraged aggressor retreats.

(By the way, I personally know actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers from the mystical film “Asylum,” where he played the role of a cursed priest. In “Black Butterfly,” he also has to transform himself, although just a little.)

Next, the hero tries to thank his deliverer, but he leaves without saying a word. Already on the way home, the writer sees a young man walking along the side of the road, and offers him an overnight stay for one night as gratitude.

Still from the film “Black Butterfly”

Strange guest and his proposal

Surprisingly, the boy quickly settled into Paul's house. He quickly put things in order, but the mess was incredible, and even began to slowly do repairs. And a little later, after talking about the crisis of creativity, he suggested the writer an interesting idea - to describe in a new book the story of their chance meeting.

Jack told us what and how to write, and emphasized that our writer does not even know who lives under the same roof with him. Gradually, Paul became convinced that the young man was not so simple and was far from being who he was trying to pretend to be.

Very soon he becomes convinced of this, but getting rid of his new acquaintance is not so easy. Who was the guy, what connected him and the writer with the murders taking place in the area, what does the tattoo on Jack’s body mean and much more you will find out if you decide to watch the film “Black Butterfly” until the final credits. Meanwhile, I’ll tell you the thoughts that came to my mind while watching.

Still from the film “Black Butterfly”

The torment of a creative person

The first is the notorious creative crisis. Anyone who has never encountered it personally is unlikely to understand what it is and how difficult it is for a creative person when the Muse leaves him.

As a person, even if indirectly associated with writing, I understand this condition well. Indeed, there are times when you can’t even squeeze out a line, and what you do write when you read it again resembles bullshit, which you’re ashamed to show to people. And this despite the fact that I do not write novels or even stories.

It’s not surprising that our hero is literally grasping at straws, even if he doesn’t particularly like the presence of a strange guy in the house, who, on top of everything else, pulls such tricks that it becomes really scary.

Still from the film “Black Butterfly”

What are they hiding from us?

The second is our dreams. You will understand which side the dreams are from if you watch the film to the end. Everything will become clear in the finale, literally before the credits. I want to say the following.

It is a pity that for the most part the majority of the population does not pay attention to their dreams, considering them, at the suggestion of scientists, as something unimportant. Although many of us have repeatedly heard stories that in dreams people see the future, learn a lot of unusual things and even make discoveries.

Still from the film “Black Butterfly”

Dreams are a completely unexplored territory, and being in this state for almost a third of your life, it would be strange not to study it. For example, magicians study dreams constantly and even use night time for their own perfection. How? This is a separate conversation, and it does not concern the review of the film “Black Butterfly”.

Why don’t scientists still do this, or perhaps they do it, but carefully hide it from ordinary people? Perhaps there, beyond falling asleep, there is something that they are trying to hide from us? Perhaps you should pay more attention to your night visions? Who knows, maybe in a dream you will be able to see something that you are not able to find in real time, no matter how hard you try?

Still from the film “Black Butterfly”

What does he want?

Third, who exactly is Jack and what does he want from our writer? Perhaps the guy is simply trying to stir up the Muse, mired in alcohol fumes, in such an unusual way?

Why does he do good deeds (forbid Paul to drink), then immediately put a knife to his throat? Who is he, an ordinary not very successful traveler, eager to finally settle down, or a ruthless maniac, killing without the slightest thought anyone who happens to be on the way?

What secret is Jack hiding, why is he trying to get Paul to open up, or maybe he even wants to take credit for other people’s achievements and even personality?

Still from the film “Black Butterfly”

Watch until the very end!

And the latter concerns the film itself rather than its meaning. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen paintings in which several storylines are so skillfully intertwined that they form one big mystery.

Here you have a story about an elusive maniac, and an attempt at a detective investigation, and the creative torment of the writer is intertwined with a terrible reality in which there is no time for writing, just to stay alive.

Still from the film “Black Butterfly”

Overall, it turned out to be a pretty good thriller with detective elements. But the main highlight of the film is its unusual ending. Moreover, looking ahead a little and slightly revealing the intrigue, I want to say that there is not one ending in the film, but two.

And it is the latter that becomes a real shock. On this sublime note, I hasten to conclude my review of the film “Black Butterfly”, so as not to let anything else slip.

Dung and tears: the usual menu. Butterflies not only drink nectar from flowers. The diet of many of them includes such unexpected and repulsive “dishes” as droppings, urine and decaying animal meat. To get the sodium they need, they drink reptile tears. Scientists use this when working with butterflies. For example, to attract the tropical checkered skipper butterfly, researchers spit on a cloth and place it on the ground. Butterflies are attracted to the saliva-soaked piece of material because it reminds them of bird droppings, and when they perch, they stay because saliva contains sodium and other nutrients. This method of attracting butterflies for research is called the Ahrenholtz method.

Predatory and carnivorous. Don't worry: you won't be attacked by man-eating butterflies. But some caterpillars actually kill other individuals to save their lives. Take Feniseca tarquinius, which lives in North America: it lays eggs in aphid colonies, and the caterpillars grow by devouring the aphids and sometimes protecting themselves with the corpses of the killed victims. It is not for nothing that Feniseca tarquinius in English is popularly called harvester, i.e. “reaper”, “harvester”.

Gourmet butterflies. Butterflies can be extremely picky when it comes to gastronomy. Let's say you have created a garden full of fragrant flowers and are waiting for beautiful butterflies to fill it. And now they are already fluttering over the flowers, but wait! - if you don't take care to choose the right plants, many of them will not be able to lay eggs, and you will lure them into a genetic dead end. The caterpillars of some butterflies fastidiously feed on only one type of plant. For example, the caterpillar Plebejus melissa samuelis feeds only on wild blue lupine. And the caterpillar of the luxurious monarch danaid consumes exclusively the genus of cottonweed plants, while Callophrys gryneus chooses Atlantic white cedar for itself - and nothing more.

“Host plant” is what all these plants are called, because they serve as the main habitat and source of nutrition for the body. As soon as the caterpillar turns into a butterfly, its diet expands, and it can choose other places of residence. But if at the right moment she does not find her host plant, she will not be able to lay eggs.

The biggest and the smallest. Butterflies can be simply huge. For example, the wingspan of Queen Alexandra's birdwing can reach 27 cm. By contrast, the maximum wingspan of Brephidium exilis, a species of the blueberry family, is no more than 2 cm. Imagine such a tiny thing in the palm of your hand - it can easily be missed.

Butterflies are transparent. We are accustomed to the fact that the wings of butterflies seem to be painted with a bright and bizarre pattern. However, in some species the color of the wings is so desaturated that they appear transparent. Quite a lot of butterflies are gray or plain brown. These types are beautiful in their minimalism if you like understated and muted tones. But some butterflies are truly transparent. Yes, the tissue between the veins of their wings is devoid of colored scales, and light easily passes through the wings. How does this relate, for example, to Greta oto, a species of butterfly from the nymphalid family.

Ultraviolet wings. Yes, the vision of butterflies is much inferior to that of humans: they are not able to distinguish the details that we distinguish. But they see in a different color spectrum. For example, they see ultraviolet light. Many butterflies have ultraviolet among the main colors of their wings, but we will never be able to notice this.

Wings are the head of everything. Butterflies have something to fear: birds, lizards, spiders and other creatures love to hunt them. When choosing between two evils, the butterfly would rather sacrifice its wings than its head: even if a predator bites off a significant part of the wings, the butterfly will still be able to fly. Without a head, of course, this will not happen. How to force the enemy to attack the wings? Only by deceiving him, luring him with a false, false head located on the wings.

Poisoner butterflies. Some butterflies infect the enemy using the classic medieval method: using poisons. No, this is not a poison that the butterflies themselves secrete - they collect it in plants and use it against their enemy at the right moment. For example, the monarch butterfly uses cottonmouth toxins to make itself, say, less palatable to birds.

Butterflies and gas attack. Butterflies wield another weapon. Thus, the caterpillars of swallowtail and corydalis butterflies have a special gland, the osmeterium (or fork-shaped gland). It looks like orange “horns”. In case of approaching danger, the caterpillar pushes them out of the body, releasing an extremely unpleasant odor that repels spiders and can even kill ants and mantises.

Paul sits at his typewriter, typing the same phrase: “I’m stuck.” The writer tries to get out of a creative crisis with the help of alcohol.

After a picnic, a woman disappears in the forest. Her husband unsuccessfully calls her, she does not respond.

Realtor Laura brings potential buyers to Paul's house. He apologizes for the chaos in the house, gets into the car and drives away. Laura promises to show the house to clients herself. Paul comes to the store and borrows food there. The radio reports the murder of a woman. This is the fourth such incident in the area over the past few years. Paul gets a call from his agent, he says that Paul's script has been returned for revision. Paul curses, he needs money. On a narrow road, a truck is driving ahead of Paul's car. Paul can't overtake him, but he finally succeeds. While overtaking a truck, Paul shouts something unpleasant to the driver. At a roadside cafe, Paul meets Laura. She's in a hurry. Paul asks her out on a date, and she agrees to meet him on Saturday. A truck driver, whom Paul overtook, enters the cafe. He's furious. Frightened, Laura leaves. An aggressive trucker tries to pick a fight with Paul, despite his apologies. Suddenly a young guy pushes the rowdy out of the cafe and says something to him. The trucker looks scared, and the guy takes his backpack from the cafe and leaves on foot. Paul follows the guy, then stops and offers him a ride. They get acquainted. The young man's name is Jack. He travels light with no specific goals. Paul says that there is a guest room in his house, Jack can stay there and take a shower. The guy agrees. They arrive at Paul's house. It's a terrible mess inside. Paul shows Jack his room.

In the morning, Paul finds Jack preparing breakfast; the guest also put things in order in the kitchen. Paul continues to drink. The next day, Jack invites Paul to carry out minor repairs in the house and on the property, he is ready to do it for free. Paul agrees. He tells Jack that he is a writer. His first two novels, published in Madrid, were a great critical success. Paul (his real name Pablo) was offered to write a script in Hollywood, he moved from Spain to America. Married the woman of his dreams. But gradually things fell into decline, his texts ceased to be in demand. And then his wife left him. He was left alone in this house, which he bought in the days of success in order to work in solitude. Paul was removed from working on the script, but a film based on his book was still made; except for the title, there was nothing left of Paul’s story. While talking about this, Paul manages to empty a bottle of whiskey. Jack claims that movies are not like life at all. He travels a lot, observes people, he knows more about real life than a reclusive writer. Jack asks Paul to read his script. He will then tell him his opinion of a common man. Paul agrees.

Jack swims every morning in the pond located on Paul's property. The writer sees a tattoo on the guy’s back: a black butterfly. Jack explains that he got the tattoo in prison. He tells Paul that he needs to stop drinking, alcoholism is interfering with his work. After looking at Paul's script, Jack says there is no idea in it. He is ready to give such an idea to Paul. Let this be a story about them. A writer living in the wilderness welcomes a guy to his home in gratitude for sparing him from reprisals from a rude driver. But soon the writer begins to regret his decision. Paul writes the script. Jack reads it and throws the manuscript into the stove. Everything is too simple here. Let Jack, according to the script, be in cahoots with the truck driver. He may still appear at the end of the story. Paul says he has a better idea. That night, Jack holds a knife to Paul's throat. He asks him to say something. In the scenario, a woman in a similar situation begs the criminal for mercy. It turns out that in real life it is difficult for a person who has a knife put to his throat to utter a word.

Paul goes through Jack's things. He discovers there a set of medical knives and newspaper clippings about missing women. Jack finds his hunting rifle in Jack's shed. Paul hears gunshots and a woman screaming in the street. He runs out of the house and asks Jack what he heard. He claims that he did not hear any screams. He fires a gun and the cries of birds are heard in the forest. "You about it?" he asks Paul.

Paul and Jack are sitting at lunch. A car arrives. It was the messenger who brought the grocery order. Jack holds Paul at gunpoint. The messenger leaves. Paul is angry. There is a quarrel. Jack beats Paul up. Then, in his defense, he says that strangers always make a person released from prison nervous. Jack demands that Paul continue working on the script. That night, Paul tries to leave the house in his car to go drink alone. Jack stops him and forces him to break bottles of alcohol.

The next day Laura arrives. Paul tries to leave with her, but they are stopped by an armed Jack. He forces Paul and Laura to push her car into a pond and orders them to return to the house. The sheriff arrives. He asks Paul about a woman who disappeared the other day. She worked at the post office and had to deliver a package to Paul from Los Angeles. Paul says he doesn't know anything about the woman. He tries to rush out of the house, as a result, Jack attacks the sheriff, forces him to climb into the trunk of his car and shoots him.

Paul and Laura see Jack get into the sheriff's car and drive away from the house. They run towards the forest, there is a railway there, a train should appear soon according to the schedule. But Laura twists her ankle, they don’t have time to catch the train, Jack catches up with them and takes them back to the house.

Jack tells Paul that he did not live up to his trust and violated their agreement. Paul says Jack is crazy. Jack says that if he is killed during the storming of the house, Paul will write the story. Paul asks to let Laura go, she has a small child. A fight breaks out between Jack and Paul. Jack ties Paul to a chair and leaves the room. Paul manages to free himself and sneaks into the kitchen, where Jack is. He manages to take possession of a hunting rifle. He takes Jack at gunpoint and sees Laura lying on the floor in a pool of blood. Jack suggests that Paul get rid of the woman's body, then no one will guess anything. Continuing to hold Jack at gunpoint, Paul says that he sometimes hears the voice of God. Then everything becomes clear to him. For example, he sees a girl in a car waiting for her boyfriend. Or he discovers a housewife in the forest. Thus, Paul admits to Jack that the murders of women are his doing. After completing his confession, Paul shoots Jack. He remains unharmed. Apparently, Jack managed to replace the cartridges with blanks. Jack snatches the gun from Paul's hands and hits him in the face with the butt of it.

When Paul comes to, he finds his house filled with FBI agents. Trucker, Jack and the “revived” Laura are FBI agents. They tracked the maniac for three years. Using a crane, the police remove Laura's car from the pond. There are dog handlers working in the house. Jack interrogates Paul. He presents him with physical evidence and plays a tape recording of Paul's confession. He calmly says that Jack himself planted all the evidence on him. And the recording shows a character’s monologue from a script he’s working on. Thus, Jack has virtually no strong evidence for a jury trial. Jack invites Paul to tell him where he hid the body of the wife he killed; she was his first victim. Paul denies killing his wife. Jack sees a photo of Paul's wife on the table, grabs it and runs outside. He compares the landscape behind the woman with what he observes with his own eyes. There is one difference: there is no pond in the photo. Jack tells Paul that he buried the body and then built a pond on top. Paul offers Jack a deal: he will tell him the details of all the crimes he has committed, and he guarantees his life, even if this means he will have to be declared insane and placed in a mental hospital. Jack says that he is not happy with this ending to the story.

Paul is sitting in the room in front of his typewriter. The writer takes out a sheet of paper covered with the same phrase: “I’m stuck.” With a clean slate, Paul begins a new story, it is called “Black Butterfly.”

Paul is a writer living in a lonely house on the outskirts. Lately, things haven’t been going well for him: the customer rejected his latest book, and he’s trying to forget about his failures with the help of alcohol. However, the hermit's life changes dramatically when he meets a stranger who helps him escape a brawl at a roadside cafe. Having learned that the stranger is traveling light, Paul invites him to stay with him for the night. A stranger unexpectedly shows interest in the writer and suggests a new plot for his book. But who is he, and what does the mysterious black butterfly tattoo on his body mean?

Hence the question - is it possible to look at something there other than the game? Antonio Banderas?

I admit, I haven’t seen the French original, so I can’t assess how much the remake has “slipped” in relation to the original source, but... damn it, “The Black Butterfly” is surprising! First of all, because there is nothing new in it - it is still the same salad of tomatoes and cucumbers of maniacs and victims - however, despite all the worn-out moves and some stereotyped characters, the execution here is at its best. In fact, we have before us a classic example of a chamber thriller, tightly tailored, with professional acting Antonio Banderas And Jonathan Rhys Meyers. Moreover, it is worth saying that both actors are worth each other - it is on the relationship between the psychopath and his hostage that the conflict of the story is built.

The tension increases from scene to scene, and the real highlight of the film is the unpredictability of the characters' actions. If at first events develop in a conventional art-house vein (reflections on literature and creativity, problems of a procrastinating personality) and resemble a somewhat overclocked version "Chinese coffee", then what’s happening is wrapped up in dynamic militant suspense... just the way we like it. The victim wants to escape and makes mistakes, the crazy killer tries to take control of the situation and is eager to prove the correctness of his views on the world and the creative process, without losing any of his “literary” charm...

In a word, it is a pleasure to watch.

Another feature of the action can be considered the “theatricality” of the production. There are very few visionary moves here, narration with a “picture”... and there is almost no nature as such - a few fir trees and a road going somewhere God knows where. From the scenery - an old residential wreck of a desperate writer, an alcoholic who has lost his wife, muse, job and money. Everything is like in a theater: here is the scene, here are the actors, here is the dramatic conflict. A person who wants to write a top story turns out to be its hero himself, without leaving the typewriter, so to speak. But who will put the finishing touches here - the author or his heroes?

It's hard to say whether this is the director's fault. Brian Goodman, or the acting experience of Antonio Banderas and Jonathan Rhys Meyers speaks to us from the screen, but surprisingly the picture from cover to cover remains spectacular and dynamic, even taking into account the intimacy. The secondary nature of the plot fades into the background - the actors have enough skill to give their characters individuality and make them look lively and bright. It is also interesting that the atmosphere is not lost in the slightest behind the dramaturgy: it is reflected in the dialogues, in the careful arrangement of the scenery, in the characters of the characters... the viewer is left with no doubt that the action is taking place in the wilderness, and the question of survival here is at stake. first place.

And yet, behind these unconditional advantages hide the shadows of all those films where everything was exactly the same, only instead of a gun there was, for example, a golf club hanging on the wall. Psychos and their hostages: , "Flower by the Road", "White River Boy" etc. So “Black Butterfly” squeezes into their orderly ranks, adding nothing new, but standing out for its solid production. It would seem that with all of the above, she would have scored six points in this review... but no. It must be said that the film has a perfectly executed final twist (it is appropriate to note that there is not even one!), leaving a tart aftertaste of darkness, despair and hopelessness.

When a writer becomes the main character of the film, then this is an absolute chance for the viewer to get in touch with the creative kitchen, a chance to get into the process of writing, looking at the situation from the inside. Famous actor Brian Goodman (“Catch Me If You Can,” “Cocaine”) made his second directorial work about a writer who is at a creative impasse. “I’m stuck,” he types endlessly on a typewriter at the very beginning of the film. There is no inspiration, no money, his beloved wife is gone, a secluded ranch in Colorado is up for sale, and very bad news - from time to time women disappear without a trace in the area. It is quite suitable as the basis for a psychological thriller script, which is “Black Butterfly”, filmed as a remake of the 2008 French television film of the same name.

But Goodman and his screenwriters Mark Friedman (producer of Lafayette Squadron and Straw Dogs) and Justin Stanley (What Lies in Loch Ness, The Shadow People) take Black Butterfly to the strange and trying to hold on. in tension interaction. In the center of the film is not only the writer Paul Lopez (Antonio Banderas), but also a guy with a completely dark history - Jack (Jonathan Rhys Meyers, “August Rush”, “Match Point”). Jack helped Paul solve one small problem at a roadside restaurant - he stepped on the tail of an overly aggressive truck driver, who had a grudge against Paul, who was driving uncontrollably on a forest road. And, it seems, fate itself brings together a once successful writer and a tumbleweed vagabond. Jack, invited to the ranch, turns out to be a handy and businesslike guy and does everything to be as useful as possible and stay longer. When it comes to the sad story of Paul's failed scripts, Jack suggests that he write a story about the two of them.

There is very little logic in the fact that Paul tolerates Jack and does not throw him out of the door. The story of “The Black Butterfly” becomes the story of the owner’s imprisonment in his own house, which is based on a completely traditional thriller basis - a place remote from active life and the absence of any communications. As a result, Jack is not so much trying to stir up the writer as he is gravitating towards a demonstration of strength and real violence. Of course, there is a positive effect from this; Paul, who loves to drink a bottle, becomes a forced teetotaler. It's a strange game played by the determined but increasingly frightened Banderas and Myers, yet still falling short of the level of a universal villain. The spirit of a serial killer is constantly in the air, which gives the viewer a reason to suspect Jack in everything. At a certain point, his real estate agent Laura (Piper Perabo, They'll Gonna Get You, Coyote Ugly Bar) shows up at Paul's house and becomes the driving force behind the entire on-screen story from that point on.

One gets the feeling that in Black Butterfly, Goodman is trying his best to create a heightened, forced sense of mystery, while drawing on the best examples of the genre with a similar plot like the 1990 Misery, based on the novel by Stephen King. But in the end it all comes down to manipulating the viewer's patience and predictable trickery akin to when a circus magician pulls a rabbit out of a top hat. An attempt to shake up the development of the plot with two unexpected twists in the last 20 minutes of the film is so indigestible that it cancels out all the slightest merits of the story and the clash of characters shown earlier. Obviously, the entire film was designed around these third-act twists, but Goodman makes no effort to ensure that the first two are rich in meaning and do not cause contradictions with internal logic.

In Black Butterfly, each of the two main characters can be suspected of premeditated murder as each strives for dominance throughout the conversation about Paul's possible film script. But the main fact for this film remains that the creators are so fascinated by their ingenious plot constructions that they resolutely do not pay attention to the souls of the people they show on the screen, and deny the film the much-needed psychologism almost completely.