Butterfly Kiss

Butterfly Kiss
Butterfly Kiss
Directed by	Michael Winterbottom
Written by	Frank Cottrell Boyce
Starring	Amanda Plummer; Saskia Reeves
Release date	1995;
Running time	88 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Budget	£400,000

Butterfly Kiss is a 1995 British film, directed by Michael Winterbottom and written by Frank Cottrell Boyce. It stars Amanda Plummer and Saskia Reeves. It was also released under the alternative title Killer on the Road. 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 (Plummer), a bisexual serial killer, and Miriam (Reeves), 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.

Main cast

Actor	Role
Amanda Plummer	Eunice
Saskia Reeves	Miriam
Kathy Jamieson	Wendy
Des McAleer	Eric McDermott
Lisa Riley	Danielle
Freda Dowie	Elsie
Paula Tilbrook	Ella
Fine Time Fontayne	Tony
Joanne Cook	Angela
Elizabeth McGrath	Waitress
Shirley Vaughan	Waitress
Paul Bown	Gary
Emily Aston	Katie
Ricky Tomlinson	Robert
Katy Murphy	Judith
Adele Lawson	Wife
Jeffrey Longmore	Husband
Suzy Yannis	Motel receptionist
Julie Walker	Shop assistant

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]

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

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This article about a drama film with a lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender theme is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

[Berlinale-1] "Berlinale: 1995 Programme". berlinale.de. Retrieved 30 December 2011.

[rogerebert-2] Ebert, Roger (9 August 1996). "Butterfly Kiss". Chicago Sun Times. Retrieved 2 August 2007.

[variety-3] Elley, Derek (16 February 1995). "Butterfly Kiss". Variety. Retrieved 2 August 2007.

[4] "The Billen Interview Andrew Billen meets Saskia Reeves", The Guardian, 6 August 1995

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