Last week, while looking for an English streaming version of “Papillon” 1973, which I never did find, found streaming copies in French, Spanish, and Russian. Ended up at Wild and Woolly. Anyway, while not finding “Papillon,” I did find “Le Papillon,” or “The Butterfly”.

This copy below is in the original French. My French is weak. I can order lunch, provided I never want anything other than the one thing I can order, and I can just about manage to get slapped. The “just about” part is due to my usually cocking up the pronunciation, and such deliveries go limp when you have to exmplain them in another language.

Je sais pas Français.
Ah, I see. You forgot “ne.” It is “Je ne sais pas Français.”
Defence rests. Je sais pas Français.

But all of that aside, I do not think one really needs a great deal of linguistical understanding to follow this movie. I find that quality of it to be extremely interesting. Is the story very straightforward, or is the visual cinematography just that good? I think it is a bit of both. Either way, this is not something you can pull off in traditional novels. You can of course have a straightforward plot, and it is usually advisable to do so. But the words are everything. One needs to be able to follow the words to get anything out of a book.

The plot spoiler from IMDB is down below the film itself.

“Le Papillon,” or “The Butterfly”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-sXfTQn7fE

Plot Summary for The Butterfly (2002/I) More at IMDbPro »Le papillon (original title):

This is the story of a young girl named Elsa who was raised by a single mother (Isabelle) in the city. Isabelle and Elsa begin the film moving in next door to an elderly man who collects butterflies (Julien). Isabelle who “spends a lot of time with her friends” does not pay much attention to her daughter who walks home because her mother forgot to pick her up from school. After meeting her new neighbor, Elsa finds out about the butterflies and in short annoys Julien for a while. Julien receives a mystery package from a fellow entomologist. Julien sets out on his annual attempt to find a rare species of butterfly that he had once promised his son he would find (son dead) in the French country side, specifically a region known as Vercors. Elsa stows away in his car. After being discovered she convinces him to let her come to Vercors with him. They bond while hiking and camping until Julien, who is initially annoyed by Elsa, near the end of the film seems to have a grandfather-granddaughter relationship with her. Elsa falls in a well. The police arrest Julien. Elsa tells everyone it is cool. Isabelle starts paying attention to her child. Julien and Elsa are friends. The mystery package contained a caterpillar which turned out to become the rare species of butterfly Julien set out to find. The species is called Isabelle. So Elsa finds her mother (Isabelle) and Julien finds the butterfly (Isabelle). Surprisingly happy feel for a french film.

Written by Anonymous.