La Chasse aux papillons (1992) - film review

Two old ladies, Marie-Agnès de Bayonnette and her cousin Solange, live in a chateau in the French countryside.   They represent a way of life that is perilously close to disappearing.  Already, the villagers have become accustomed to the presence of Hari Krishna followers, and a group of wealthy Japanese business men are determined to buy Marie-Agnès’ château for their new company headquarters...

La Chasse aux papillons is an engaging comedy which begins as an enchanting portrait of country life and concludes – rather brutally – as a morality tale about the impermanence of that way of life.  The metaphor of the butterfly chase of the film’s title is an appropriate one: the Japanese business men are effectively butterfly hunters who want to seize a thing of beauty (in this case a chateau) and add it to their collection.  But, in so doing, they end up destroying the charm that lured them to it in the first place.

The style of the film is a sophisticated variation of the comedies of Jacques Tati, where all of the characters are viewed from a distance without any well-defined story.  Events just unfold, seemingly randomly and without any purpose, as in real life.  The pleasure in watching this film is not in understanding what has happened but in being constantly surprised at what happens next.  Often, the sheer weirdness and unexpected turns the film takes is in stark contrast to the naturalistic performances and stone sober photography.  Whilst the film’s free-format narrative structure can be occasionally frustrating, the overall impression is that this is a film which makes its simple point about change and decay with imagination and a memorable poetic charm.

© James Travers 2001

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