Great visuals, story delivers no surprises

A Disappointing Continuation

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

Blistering performances.

In England, the psychopath Eunice (Amanda Plummer) takes rides to gas stations seeking out a song and a woman called Judith that would be in love with her in the cashier of convenience stores. When she takes a ride, she usually kills the driver and leaves the car on the next gas station. When Eunice stumbles upon the naive lesbian Miriam (Saskia Reeves), she brings Eunice home to stay with her. But Eunice wants to find Judith and Miriam decides to go with her. Soon she realizes that Eunice is insane and bipolar but she follows her in her crime spree."Butterfly Kiss" is a disturbing but also boring movie directed by Michael Winterbottom. The weird Amanda Plummer is in the top of her career quite immediately after "Pulp Fiction" but the plot is too sick and repetitive. Maybe in 1995 this film could be more attractive, but today it is annoying. My vote is four.Title (Brazil): "O Beijo da Borboleta" ("The Butterfly Kiss")

Eunice: "People that nobody loves always end up killing someone, even if it's just themselves". Miriam: "Oh, I see...." Eunice is young, deranged woman, wandering along gray English highways, looking for a girl named Judith. She tries to find a record with a love song, but can't remember the words...just a piano part. We later learn it's Singing for England, England..."song about love", as she kept repeating. By pure chance, deranged and dangerous, she met young gas station clerk, Miriam. They clicked immediately. From this point on, Miriam - model daughter and humble small time girl - falls for Eunice's charm...and things go terribly wrong.The dynamics between two women is strange and can be seen as an abusive relationship. Miriam is submissive, totally succumbed in what will prove to be a complete life changing experience.Saskia Reeves (Miriam) gave excellent performance, but, let's face it - brilliant Amanda Plummer (Eunice) steals the show!Plummer is fascinating in this role: threatening, full on crazy, dominant with distinct will and determination. Ravages through this film like a force of nature. But, what is Eunice looking for? I think she felt abandoned, testing the limits of evil she can inflict, before God intervenes and punishes her for her sins. But the guy above might just be too indifferent, or otherwise engaged.Miriam is strangely lured to Eunice, trying to help her and perhaps make her see the good in herself. Although she appears irrational, Eunice has this strange understanding of things, warped yet somehow precise ability to read people. She said to Miriam: "You think you can make me good? I'll make you evil before you make me good". What is butterfly kiss? It's a gentle act of affection. Hard to find anything gentle about this story, unless you read between the lines but they are blurred.90's brought us some very interesting cinema that goes against the grain. Especially indie drama Brits do so well. The cinematography is realistic, there's lack of sentimentality in harsh urban setting. Nihilism and spleen are dragged into spotlight, and Butterfly Kiss delivers these qualities in spades. Such a gem, wonderful and unjustly overlooked film.

If you generally don't like murder films you'll hate this movie, never mind the fact that it's actually very good. Very little heed (if any) is paid to the numerous victims, their bodies falling to the side of the storyline as the obsessed female lovers move on, taking the plot with them. Butterfly Kiss introduces two startlingly distinctive, unique women, opposites drawn together by loneliness and a need for balance. Eunice is a dispairing, tortured soul who searches the bland, grey motorways of England for the ever-absent Judith (does this abstract individual really exist or is she another figment of Eunice's amazingly complex and unstable psyche?). People who turn out not to be Judith tend to end up the victim of Eu's homocidal wrath (note though that Judiths importance to Eu was going to end up in mortal sacrifice also). Eunice has no inhibitions, no scruples; her behaviour is repulsive, obnoxious, sexually promiscuous, extravagantly moody. She acts purely on impulse and instinct, rarely using her devastated mind, for Eunice actually wants to be caught, and wants to be punished. In fact, she consistantly pushes her luck in aggravating people, beleiving God (and I guess the rest of the world) has forgotten her. Consequently she is forced to punish herself, wrapping her scrawny body in chains that hurt and bruise her. It is quite possible that a lot of her other actions throughout the film, which are illogical and cruel up front, are more attempts by Eu at self-punishment though that is left for the audience to mull over. Miriam, by contrast, is water to Eu's fire, a metaphor even she explains in her black and white interveiws dotted throughout the film, as she tells their story to a camera. Miriam at first looks to be dim, naive, childish and ineloquent in her speech. Reading between the lines this version of Mi fails to convince, instead giving the image of perceptive, open-minded in the extreme, generous and angelicly kind. Whether this was supposed to be Mi or was Saskia Reeves' true intelligence mistakenly worming its way to the surface is unknown, and it doesnt really matter -the character was nontheless, adorable. As lonely and love-starved as Eunice, their similarities end there. Mi is totally honest and forthcoming; her love for Eunice is complete and unconditional. Along with being painfully direct, Eunice is also implicitly dishonest. When Miriam discovers Eu's homocidal nature she is already in love. She disposes of the body without encouragment from Eu and sets out to support Eu and make her a better person. Rather she becomes a murderer herself, though through more subtle indications she retains all the original beauty and kindness of her placid personality. People who may dislike this movie are being subjectively incorrect in saying that it isn't good. Truly it is not a pleasant film to watch but it is still a worthwhile peice of artistry riddled with talent.

What prompted me to write this was reading another viewer review that claimed this film was terrible. Now, I am not going to attack that reviewer; everyone is entitled to their own opinion and all that, but I am going to tell you why I disagree with what that person wrote.Eunice and Miriam are the central characters. Known to each other as Eu and Mi, (You and Me). Eunice feels God has forgotten her, so makes has to punish herself or her sins and crimes. Miriam is a sweet, sensitive girl, a complete opposite to Eu. At opposite ends of whatever the scale might have been, Eu and Mi cross the country so Eu can find the only person she has ever loved...It is a shocking tale. It is disturbing, depressing. It is, for me more of a tragedy that Hamlet and Macbeth put together and multiplied a hundred times. Love and Redemption. Love. Love. Love. That's what it's all about. The final scene of any film should be something. I have never cried so hard in a film as I have in this one. Everybody who considers themself a fan of the 'non-Hollywood' style film with heart and guts, then see this incredible film! 10/10