''Black Butterflies'' is an English-language Dutch

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

about the life of South-African Afrikaans poet and anti-apartheid

political dissident A dissident is a person who actively challenges an established political or religious system, doctrine, belief, policy, or institution. In a religious context, the word has been used since the 18th century, and in the political sense since the 20th ...

Ingrid Jonker Ingrid may refer to: * Ingrid (given name) * Ingrid (record label), and artist collective * Ingrid Burley, rapper known mononymously as Ingrid * Tropical Storm Ingrid, various cyclones * 1026 Ingrid, an asteroid * InGrid, the grid computing project ...

. The film was directed by

Paula van der Oest Paula van der Oest (born 1965) is a Dutch film director and screenwriter. Her 2001 film '' Zus & Zo'' was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. With her final exam at the Dutch Film and Television Academy, ''Zinderend' ...

and premiered in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

on February 6 before being released on 31 March 2011.

Plot

Ingrid and Anna Jonker live in a seaside shack with their elderly grandmother. One night, Anna rushes into the bedroom and tells Ingrid that their grandmother is not breathing. As her body is carried away in a hearse, the politician Abraham Jonker (

Rutger Hauer Rutger Oelsen Hauer (; 23 January 1944 – 19 July 2019) was a Dutch actor. In 1999, he was named by the Dutch public as the Best Dutch Actor of the Century. Hauer's career began in 1969 with the title role in the Dutch television series ' ...

) arrives and expresses shock that the girls have no shoes. When Anna asks what they are to call him, Abraham replies, "Call me 'Pa.'" Decades later, in 1960, an adult Ingrid (

Carice van Houten Carice Anouk van Houten () is a Dutch actress and singer (born 5 September 1976 in Leiderdorp). Her first leading role in the television film ''Suzy Q'' (1999) won her the Golden Calf for Best Acting in a Television Drama; two years later, s ...

) is swimming against the current near the

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

suburb of Clifton when she starts to go under. Hearing her cries, a man on shore (

Liam Cunningham Liam Cunningham (born 2 June 1961) is an Irish actor. He is known for playing Davos Seaworth in the HBO epic-fantasy series ''Game of Thrones''. Cunningham has been nominated for the London Film Critics' Circle Award, the British Independe ...

) dives into the water to save her. They reach the shore, and he introduces himself as novelist

Jack Cope Robert Knox ″Jack″ Cope (3 June 1913 – 1 May 1991) was a South African novelist, short story writer, poet and editing, editor. Life Jack Cope was born in Natal Province, Natal, South Africa and home-schooled by tutors. From the age of 12, ...

. Overjoyed, Ingrid says she has read his novel. Jack asks how she liked it. She replies that his novel saved her life. Jack is stunned to hear that she is "the poet Ingrid Jonker." Her sister Anna interrupts to say their father is waiting for her. Abraham tells Ingrid that her estranged husband, Pieter Venter, asked for a ride to her house. Ingrid says that she and Pieter have nothing in common. In the flat Ingrid and her infant daughter share with Anna, Pieter pleads for another chance. Jack calls to invite Ingrid to a party with his literary bohemian friends. Ingrid refuses Pieter and goes to the party. There, a black writer says that the Censorship Board has banned his unpublished novel and the police have confiscated the manuscript. He laments four years of his life gone to waste. Jack and Ingrid drive the writer to the black township of Nyanga. On the way, they are stopped by a white cop, who tries to give the writer trouble. The writer tells Jack that Ingrid's father, Abraham Jonker, represents the

White Supremacist White supremacy or white supremacism is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races and thus should dominate them. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White s ...

National Party in Parliament and is the Chair of the Censorship Board which banned his novel. Jack says Ingrid isn't like her father. Jack and Ingrid go to his flat, where he tells her he has two children and is going through an ugly divorce. Ingrid shows him a poem she wrote in his honor, and Jack is moved. He asks why she wrote it, and she says his novel saved her life. They become lovers. Later, Jack tells her he is madly in love with her and asks her and her daughter to move in with him. She accepts. However, Jack refuses to marry her. Although Ingrid continues to write, Jack eventually says he is unable to write and says that constantly emotionally supporting Ingrid "drains" him. He decides to visit his sons and their mother for two or three months in order to finish his novel. Although Jack promises to return, Ingrid is distraught at the idea of being apart for so long and begs him not to go. She quits her job to see him off at the train station, where she asks him to stay or take her with him. Jack leaves. Ingrid is shown having a secret abortion. Jack calls to tell Ingrid that he will be away for another month. Soon after, she meets novelist Eugene Maritz (based on André Brink). Eugene is a fan of Ingrid's poetry, and poet and playeright

Uys Krige Mattheus Uys Krige (4 February 1910 – 10 August 1987) was a South African writer of novels, short stories, poems and plays in Afrikaans and English. In Afrikaans literature, Krige is counted among the '' Dertigers'' ("Writers of the Thirties"). ...

lauds Maritz as the great hope of

Afrikaans literature Afrikaans literature is literature written in Afrikaans. Afrikaans is the daughter language of 17th-century Dutch and is spoken by the majority of people in the Western Cape of South Africa and among Afrikaners and Coloured South Africans in oth ...

. Out of both anger and desperate loneliness over Jack's absence, Ingrid seduces Maritz. Jack returns to find Maritz's shoes in his closet and kicks Ingrid out. Ingrid and Jack witness the police shoot at a car, killing a black child. The horror of this motivates Ingrid to write her most famous poem, ''Die Kind'', which calls the child a martyr and subtly prophesies that one day

Apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

will end. Meanwhile, Abraham Jonker is depicted as a tyrannical man who withholds validation and affection from his daughter and who is enraged by her

political dissent Political dissent is a dissatisfaction with or opposition to the policies of a governing body. Expressions of dissent may take forms from vocal disagreement to civil disobedience to the use of violence.Apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

, her friendships with

dissident A dissident is a person who actively challenges an established political or religious system, doctrine, belief, policy, or institution. In a religious context, the word has been used since the 18th century, and in the political sense since the 20th ...

writers whose work he bans, and her own poetry. When Ingrid asks Abraham to read her Anti-Apartheid poem ''Die Kind'', Abraham reads only part of it and rips it up. Ingrid's interpersonal issues with her father and the love triangle with Jack and Eugene lead her into

major depression Major depressive disorder (MDD), also known as clinical depression, is a mental disorder characterized by at least two weeks of pervasive low mood, low self-esteem, and loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities. Introdu ...

and

psychosis Psychosis is a condition of the mind that results in difficulties determining what is real and what is not real. Symptoms may include delusions and hallucinations, among other features. Additional symptoms are incoherent speech and behavior ...

. She is committed to

Valkenberg Hospital The Valkenberg Hospital is a large, government-funded, tertiary psychiatric hospital in the city of Cape Town, South Africa. It is situated in the suburb of Observatory between the banks of the Liesbeek and Black Rivers, overlooking Devil's Pe ...

, where Jack visits her and learns about Ingrid's secret termination of their unborn child. He asks why she did not tell him. She says he would have married her only for that reason. Ingrid tells him the hospital took all her poems, but she still has them in her head. Jack finds a pocketbook full of poems in the box of her belongings and is deeply impressed. Taking the poems with him, Jack and

feverishly work to compile them into the poetry book ''Rook an Ochre'' ("Smoke and Ochre"). After Ingrid is released, the book is accepted by a publisher. She dedicates the book to Jack and Uys. The book is well reviewed and nominated for the prestigious APB Award. Ingrid is able to go to Europe for the first time. Before leaving, she visits her father at work to give him the news and ask him to accompany her. Her father tells her he wanted to ban her book and only did not do so because his subordinates told him it would cause a scandal. Seething with hatred, Abraham brings up Ingrid's promiscuity and denounces his daughter as "a slut". Abraham says he never wants to see Ingrid again. Ingrid asks Jack to accompany her to Europe, but he says the government would not issue him a passport because of his political views. She invites Eugene, and he accepts. During the trip, he finds her writing a poem about her love for Jack and is furious. He tells her he is returning to South Africa early. Ingrid performs another abortion on herself and is hospitalized in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

. The hospital calls her father to ask for permission to conduct electroconvulsive shock therapy. He gives his permission. After returning to

, Ingrid is no longer able to write and no longer smiles. She goes to Jack's home one night and gives him her AFB medal along with a

Walt Whitman Walter Whitman (; May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among ...

poem as a statement of her love for him. Even though Jack asks her to move back in with him, Ingrid leaves and takes her life by walking into the ocean. Later, a devastated Jack is shown watching from a distance as her body is being recovered. The film ends as the camera pans over the sea as a recording of Jack Cope and Uys Krige's English translation of Ingrid Jonker's poem ''Die Kind'' is read aloud by Nelson Mandela. Text reveals that Mandela read the poem during his first address as President to the South African Parliament after the end of Apartheid.

Cast

as Ingrid Jonker *

as Abraham Jonker *

as Jack Cope * Graham Clarke as

Reception

References

External links

* * {{Golden Calf for Best Feature Film Apartheid films Biographical films about poets Dutch drama films Films about codependency Films about narcissism Films about poets Films set in Cape Town 2011 drama films 2011 films 2010s English-language films English-language Dutch films