Black Butterflies

Poet Ingrid Jonker, often called South Africa's Sylvia Plath, is the subject of Paula van der Oest's biographical film Black Butterflies, which carries a powerful emotional punch thanks to Carice van Houten's vivid performance as the woman whom Nelson Mandela—reading one of her incendiary works in his first presidential speech to his country's parliament—called “both an Afrikaner and an African” because of her outspoken criticism of the brutal apartheid system. Jonker's stance was all the more remarkable given that her father, played sternly here by Rutger Hauer, was an official whose role in censoring dangerous art only exacerbated their already turbulent relationship. While the film doesn't minimize the wider sociopolitical background to Jonker's life, the focus here is on her personal demons, particularly her broken marriage, determination to raise her daughter alone, frequent lapses into alcoholism, and dalliances with a succession of men, most notably novelist Jack Cope (Liam Cunningham)—a tumultuous on-again, off-again affair that provides the framework for the script. A compelling portrait of a tortured and brilliant artist, this is highly recommended. (F. Swietek)