Butterfly Kiss
1995 British film
- 18 August 1995 (1995-08-18)
Running time
Butterfly Kiss (alternative title Killer on the Road) is a 1995 British film, directed by Michael Winterbottom and written by Frank Cottrell Boyce. It stars Amanda Plummer and Saskia Reeves. The film was entered into the 45th Berlin International Film Festival.[1]
Plot
Set on the bleak motorways of Lancashire, Butterfly Kiss tells the story of Eunice, a bisexual serial killer, and Miriam, a naive, innocent and lonely young girl who falls under her spell.
Miriam runs away from home and meets Eunice, and soon becomes her lover and accomplice. At a truck stop, Eunice first offers the unwilling Miriam to a trucker for sex, then rescues her in mid-rape by murdering the driver. When the hitchhiking duo are picked up by another licentious man, Miriam returns to their motel room to find Eunice and their benefactor having rough sex in the shower. Mistaking the consensual sex for the rape from which Eunice earlier rescued her, Miriam returns the favor by beating their benefactor to death with the hand-held showerhead, to Eunice's delight. Eunice finally brings Miriam to the ocean, where she makes Miriam kill her.
Cast
- Amanda Plummer as Eunice
- Saskia Reeves as Miriam
- Kathy Jamieson as Wendy
- Des McAleer as Eric McDermott
- Lisa Riley as Danielle
- Freda Dowie as Elsie
- Paula Tilbrook as Ella
- Fine Time Fontayne as Tony
- Joanne Cook as Angela
- Elizabeth McGrath as Waitress
- Shirley Vaughan as Waitress
- Paul Bown as Gary
- Emily Aston as Katie
- Ricky Tomlinson as Robert
- Katy Murphy as Judith
Soundtrack
- "Walkin' Back to Happiness" Helen Shapiro
- "I Will Survive" Gloria Gaynor
- "Ridiculous Thoughts" The Cranberries
- "You Won't Find Another Fool Like Me" The New Seekers
- "Silly Games" Janet Kay
- "Away" The Cranberries
- "Leavin' On Your Mind" Patsy Cline
- "Trouble" Shampoo
- "There's More To Life Than This" Björk
- "I Don't Need" The Cranberries
- "Stay" Shakespeare's Sister
- "Missed" PJ Harvey
- "Jewel" Marcella Detroit
- "World In Motion" New Order
- "No Need To Argue"' The Cranberries
Reception
Film critic Roger Ebert, in a positive review, noted that the characters' names are shortened to "Mi" and "Eu" throughout the film, suggesting that they may represent "parts of a schizophrenic personality."[2]
Variety called it "An often breathtakingly original meld of road movie, lesbian love story, psychodrama and black comedy".[3]
Andrew Billen praised the dialogue in what he described as "a lesbian Thelma and Louise set on the M6".[4]
See also
References
- ^ "Berlinale: 1995 Programme". berlinale.de. Retrieved 30 December 2011.
- ^ Ebert, Roger (9 August 1996). "Butterfly Kiss". Chicago Sun Times. Retrieved 2 August 2007.
- ^ Elley, Derek (16 February 1995). "Butterfly Kiss". Variety. Retrieved 2 August 2007.
- ^ "The Billen Interview Andrew Billen meets Saskia Reeves", The Guardian, 6 August 1995
External links
- Butterfly Kiss at IMDb
- Butterfly Kiss at Rotten Tomatoes
- v
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Michael Winterbottom filmography
- Family (1994)
- Butterfly Kiss (1995)
- Go Now (1995)
- Jude (1996)
- Welcome to Sarajevo (1997)
- I Want You (1998)
- Wonderland (1999)
- With or Without You (1999)
- The Claim (2000)
- 24 Hour Party People (2002)
- In This World (2003)
- Code 46 (2003)
- 9 Songs (2004)
- A Cock and Bull Story (2005)
- The Road to Guantánamo (2006)
- A Mighty Heart (2007)
- Genova (2008)
- The Shock Doctrine (2009)
- The Killer Inside Me (2010)
- The Trip (2010)
- Trishna (2011)
- Everyday (2012)
- The Look of Love (2013)
- The Trip to Italy (2014)
- The Face of an Angel (2014)
- The Emperor's New Clothes (2015)
- On the Road (2016)
- The Trip to Spain (2017)
- The Wedding Guest (2018)
- Greed (2019)
- The Trip to Greece (2020)
- Eleven Days in May (2022)
- This England (2022)
- Shoshana (2023)
