The Last Butterfly

{{Infobox film | name = The Last Butterfly | director = Karel Kachyňa | producer = Caroline Schweich Boudjemaa Dahmane Jacques Méthé | based_on = {{based on|''The Last Butterfly''|Michael Jacot}} | writer = Ota Hofman Karel Kachyňa | starring = Tom Courtenay Brigitte Fossey Ingrid Held | music = Milan Svoboda Alex North | cinematography = Jiří Krejčík jr. | editing = Jiří Brožek Suzanne Lang-Willar | studio = Barrandov Studios Cinema et Communication Filmexport Praha HTV International Ltd. | distributor = Lucernafilm | released = {{film date|1991|1|1}} | runtime = 111 minutes | country = Czechoslovakia France | language = Czech English }}

'''''The Last Butterfly''''' ({{langx|cs|'''Poslední motýl'''}}; {{langx|fr|'''La dernier papillon'''}}) is a 1990 Czech–French holocaust drama film directed by Karel Kachyňa based on the book ''The Last Butterfly'' by Canadian author Michael Jacot.<ref>{{cite web |title=Prolific Canadian writer, filmmaker Michael Jacot dies Social Sharing |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/prolific-canadian-writer-filmmaker-michael-jacot-dies-1.618440 |website=CBC.ca |publisher=Canadian Broadcasting Corporation |access-date=17 October 2021 |date=11 October 2006}}</ref>

==Cast== * Tom Courtenay as Antoine Moreau * Brigitte Fossey as Věra * Ingrid Held as Michèle * Freddie Jones as Conductor Karl Rheinberg * Milan Kňažko as Commandant Gruber * Josef Kemr as Leo Stadler * Drahomíra Fialková as Leo Stadler's wife * Pavel Bobek as Silberstein * Josef Laufer as Petersen * Hana Hegerová as Singer * Linda Jablonská as Stella

==Release== The movie had a premiere in Czechoslovakia in 1991. The film received generally positive reviews. Stephen Holden wrote in ''The New York Times'': "The mood of calm despair that hangs over the film lends it a disquietingly surreal aura. But it also plays into the story, which describes an attempt to deliver a horrifying message without stating it in words."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Holden |first1=Stephen |title=Review/Film; A Holocaust Witness, Eloquent in His Silence |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/08/20/movies/review-film-a-holocaust-witness-eloquent-in-his-silence.html |access-date=17 October 2021 |work=The New York Times |date=20 August 1993}}</ref> David Mills wrote in ''The Washington Post'': "''The Last Butterfly'' demonstrates the precious power of art to transmit emotional truths about history, if not the factual completeness of history."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Mills |first1=David |date=21 January 1994 |title='The Last Butterfly' (NR) |newspaper=Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/movies/videos/thelastbutterflynrmills_a09e21.htm |access-date=17 October 2021}}</ref>

==Bibliography== *{{cite book |last1=Brownstein |first1=Rich |title=Holocaust Cinema Complete: A History and Analysis of 400 Films, with a Teaching Guide |date=2021 |publisher=McFarland & Company, Inc. |location=Jefferson, North Carolina |oclc=1269508907 |isbn=9781476641928}}

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== * {{IMDb title|id=0100393 }}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Last Butterfly, The}} Category:1991 films Category:1991 drama films Category:1991 English-language films Category:1990s Czech-language films Category:1991 Czechoslovak films Category:Czech war drama films Category:French war drama films Category:1990s war drama films Category:Czech World War II films Category:Czechoslovak World War II films Category:French World War II films Category:Holocaust films Category:Films about Jews and Judaism Category:Films set in Czechoslovakia Category:1990 multilingual films Category:Czech multilingual films Category:French multilingual films Category:Films based on Canadian novels Category:1991 French films Category:English-language war drama films