Synopsis
Confronted by Apartheid and a father who was Minister of Censorship, Ingrid Jonker searched for a home, searched for love. With men like Jack Cope and André Brink she found much love, but no home. Later, in his first speech to the South African Parliament Nelson Mandela read her poem "The Dead Child of Nyanga" and addressed her as one of the finest poets of South Africa.
Votre Filmothèque
Cast
- Carice van HoutenIngrid Jonker
- Rutger HauerAbraham Jonker
- Liam CunninghamJack Cope
- Nicholas PaulingEugene Maritz
- Grant SwanbyJan Rabie
- Graham ClarkeUys Krige
- Damon BerryPieter Venter
- Jennifer SteynLucille - Lulu
- Candice D'ArcyAnna Jonker
- Leon ClingmanValkenberg receptionist
Recommandations
- 90
The New York Times
In its jagged style and tone Black Butterflies is as close to an inside-out view of Jonker's tumultuous life as a movie could go without sinking into chaos. Its hues are continuously changing, and the seaside weather around Cape Town reflects her tempestuous emotional life. - 80
Variety
The uncompromising power of Ingrid Jonker's poetry runs like a pulsing vein through Black Butterflies. - 80
The Hollywood Reporter
Paula van der Oest's biopic of South African poet Ingrid Jonker is conventional yet captivating thanks in large part to a terrific lead performance from Carice van Houten. - 75
Observer
Neither another bland biopic about a self-destructive artist nor an historical scrapbook about a country in the grip of slavery, Black Butterflies is a dark, moving depiction of the life and death of a brave rebellious, idiosyncratic woman who made significant strides toward changing the world around her and paid a heavy toll for her passion. - 63
Slant Magazine
A reasonably sensitive and occasionally insightful look into the mind and psyche of an impassioned and deeply troubled artist. - 60
Time Out
Carice van Houten (Black Book) is superb as the emotionally unstable Jonker - all manically beaming highs and depressively gloomy lows, a tempestuous force of nature in a movie that too often plays it blandly polite. - 58
The A.V. Club
At least Black Butterflies gets the tortured-soul part right. - 50
Village Voice
Art, politics, and craziness conspire to form a rather mechanical melodrama in Black Butterflies.
