Black Butterflies

"Black Butterflies", a biographical drama imagining the life and times of famed Afrikaner poet Ingrid Jonker (played with a distracting non-afrikaans accent by Carice van Houten), ventures through uneasy territory of a manic-depressive egocentric leech, who happens per chance to also be a brilliant poet. Focused mainly around her tentative affair with acclaimed novelist Jack Cope (Liam Cunningham), it also features subplots regarding her promiscuous behaviour and romance with Eugene Maritz (Nicholas Pauling), de facto a cryptic Andre Brink, and her conflicted relationship with her father Abraham Jonker (Rutger Hauer), who headed the censorship department of the Apartheid government.

Through her tribulations (without much trials) the audience in swept into the demented and self-absorbed world of the poet with destructive tendencies and little more than a fleeting regard for anything outside of her own virtual obsessions and hyperbolized melodrama. Director Paula van der Oest and scriptwriter Greg Latter leave little sympathy for Ingrid Jonker, portraying her as compulsive, impulsive, bordering on alcoholic, accusatory in nature, morally repugnant with overwhelming inclinations towards destroying everything around her during her turbulent emotional whirlwinds, including overwhelming contemptuous disregard towards her own child. Nonetheless Ingrid remains fascinating and magnetic as a poet epitomised by her internal contradictions and fragility. If this movie was aimed at being an elegy towards the revered writer, than sadly it has failed. But as a character study of a troubled and turbulent individual, which by teasing brilliance ends up spiralling into despair and manic annihilation, it is a captivating experience.

Despite her obvious issues with keeping an accent and the resulting meandering articulation Carice van Houten still manages to convey the obsessive Ingrid with her crippling character disorders. Nonetheless, despite much more limited screen time, she is indiscriminately overshadowed by Liam Cunningham and Rutger Hauer, who come en force in their respective roles. Nonetheless, script-wise the interactions between father and daughter feel dauntlessly underlined, not following through on the key importance of this relationship to Jonker's writings. Filtered through some brilliant cinematography and restrained direction with a touch of poetic artistry, the overall experience was extremely enticing, even if the divisive character of Ingrid Jonker is bound to push all the wrong buttons for many viewers.

A middle aged writer rescues a young woman from drowning near the shores of South Africa. Although he is much older, they fall in love right there and then and soon some obvious complications ensue. There is hardly a likable or interesting character in this wandering historical drama about the poet Ingrid Jonker (Carice van Houten). It deals primarily with the mentally troubled writer and her precarious relationships with men, including her father (Rutger Hauer) who is a member of the apartheid regime she strongly opposes.

The film never picks up any speed and the absence of a discernible plot line or a compelling narrative makes for a very pallid viewing experience. Hauers script is particularly one-note but the same could be said of van Houten who seemed to be out of her depth in the role of a frustrated and depressed young woman trying to get her voice heard through rebellious poetry. Liam Cunningham fares a lot better as one of the two love interests and produces the only sympathetic character of the film.

It would be extremely useful if IMDb were to actually mention this on the movie's page somewhere.

If you are not from South Africa, you've probably never heard of this poetess from that Aparathied era. Unfortunately, this movie is unlikely to make you want to learn any more about her as it portrays her as an extremely unlikable, self-centred, promiscuous abuser of everyone she meets. I have no idea if this is actually how Jonker was in life, and quite frankly this movie makes me not care in the least.

I'm sure she must have had some redeeming qualities, but the lacklustre performances and horrible script disguise them well.

I read a book about Ingrid Jonker's life and her poetry then i found Black Butterflies movie. It was good. I liked it.

You can find her poems in this movie. I think this is the best detail about movie. Also i really found affective the reflection of between Ingrid and her father relationship to to the movie. That part is very impressive.

Black butterfly is a dark twisted thriller. Neither another bland biopic about a self distractive artist nor an historical scrapbook about a country in the grip of slavery. Slavery stems deep in South Africa especially during apartheid and its just too twisted but reveals how people lived in essense. Having to change the world around her was hard bit something that was necessary. Though there was a heavy price that came with having to change the world around her. A heavy price was indeed paid for her passion but the movie is really worth watching. I enjoyed every moment of the movie. Thank you.