Papillon (1973) on Netflix
R19732h 31mBiographyCrimeDrama
Henri Charrière, nicknamed Papillon for the butterfly tattoo on his chest, is sentenced to life in a French Guiana penal colony. He offers convict Louis Dega protection in return for money.
- Netflix3.9/5
- IMDb8.0/10147,013 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes72%
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Plot summary
In the early 1930s, Henri Charrière, a safecracker nicknamed Papillon, is convicted of murdering a pimp and sentenced to life in the penal system of French Guiana, from which convicts are not expected to return to France. He insists he was framed. On the voyage out he meets Louis Dega, a wealthy counterfeiter whose wife is expected to work for his release. Papillon proposes a bargain: he will protect Dega from other convicts, and Dega will finance an escape once they reach the colony. Both men are sent to a labor camp in the jungle, where the two become friends while other prisoners pursue plans of their own.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Papillon (1973)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
SPOILER
Steve McQueen's famous cliff-jumping scene near the film's climax was shot from the cliffs in Maui, Hawaii, and McQueen insisted on performing the stunt himself, later saying it was "one of the most exhilarating experiences of my life".- Continental Distributing won the rights for $500,000, intending to hire Roman Polanski as director and Warren Beatty as lead actor, but that version collapsed when the studio's funding fell through.
- The Prison of St-Laurent-du-Maroni, where Henri Charrière was held and where most of the action takes place, was faithfully recreated using the original blueprints; footage of the real prison in French Guiana, abandoned and covered in jungle growth, plays under the end credits.
- Papillon was Jerry Goldsmith's fourth collaboration with director Franklin J. Schaffner, after Planet of the Apes and Patton; both believed film music should be used economically, and the two-and-a-half-hour film has only 40 minutes with music.
- Steve McQueen was paid $2 million, along with the contractual stipulation that he receive first billing over his co-star Dustin Hoffman.
- Ratna Assan made her film debut in Papillon by portraying an indigenous woman named Zoraima, which resulted in extreme censorship when the film was screened in Indonesia.
