Critic Reviews

• V.A. Musetto, New York Post

  Van Houten ... gives a strong performance as Jonker, and the cinematography is pleasing, but the script is cliché-ridden and ends on an overly sentimental note.

• Stephen Holden, New York Times

  The movie reminds you of the extent to which poetry has been marginalized as a cultural force since the early 1960s.

• Rex Reed, New York Observer

  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.

• Keith Uhlich, Time Out New York

  Always feels like a life schematically condensed rather than intimately explored.

• Nick Schager, Village Voice

  Art, politics, and craziness conspire to form a rather mechanical melodrama in Black Butterflies...

• Jordan Mintzer, 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.

• Sam Adams, AV Club

  Black Butterflies scarcely tries to illuminate the substance of Jonker's writing.

• Leslie Stonebraker, New York Press

  Black Butterflies is the sad human poetry of the lost souls who slip beneath the waves to echo in our collective consciousness.

• Kent Turner, Film-Forward.com

  The screenplay defiantly never softens [Ingrid] Jonker, but challenges the audience to take her or leave her.

• Kenji Fujishima, Slant Magazine

  As far as middlebrow biopics go, it may not break any molds, but it's a reasonably sensitive and occasionally insightful look into the mind and psyche of an impassioned and deeply troubled artist.

Read all 10 critic reviews