Thursday, June 7, 1996
Plummer’s acting only somewhat undermined by an unsympathetic
plotBy Dina Gachman
Daily Bruin Staff
Images of evil pervade the history of cinema. Sinister
criminals, icy gangsters and twisted murderers are subjects that
repeatedly slither onto the screen. Often their purpose is just to
scare the hell out of us, but sometimes they remind us of our
vulnerability, and show us the darkest side of humanity.
In "Butterfly Kiss," the new film directed by Michael
Winterbottom and staring Amanda Plummer, the representation of evil
is as complex as it is disturbing. But perhaps because of the
disjointed storyline, Plummer’s character is alternately
captivating and annoying.
The basic structure follows a serial killer’s road trip through
Northern England, where every stop ends in murder. But Winterbottom
and writer Frank Cottrell Boyce have not created a hackneyed view
of the serial killer. Their psycho is an androgynous, volatile,
bi-sexual and pitiful woman named Eunice (Plummer). These qualities
may sound familiar, but the way the filmmakers and Plummer portray
Eunice is unique. She’s a character full of spite, but this spite
is wrapped in a cloak of childlike fear and isolation.
Plummer presents these qualities with a raw sexuality and energy
that recalls her brief role in "Pulp Fiction," where she played a
hyper, gun-toting thief. As the star of "Butterfly Kiss," Plummer
has the chance to take this persona to another level. Eunice
dominates the screen, her tattooed torso draped in heavy metal
chains; her expression disheveled and macabre. When Eunice meets
Miriam, an innocent, almost clueless woman played by British
actress Saskia Reeves, her killing spree takes on a new dimension.
Plummer gracefully slips between Eunice’s cold-hearted glances and
the tenderness she expresses towards Miriam. But these extremes
become unrealistic as the film progresses. It seems ridiculous that
Miriam would continually dismiss Eunice’s bloody work. She even
helps Eunice bury a few bodies in the woods. Their love for each
other is born of desperation and loneliness, but a violent killer
can only evoke so much sympathy. Eunice isn’t even nice to Miriam
most of the time, and each minute of the film she becomes a little
bit easier to hate.
Even if Winterbottom is attempting to pick apart the psychology
of a serial killer and show us her human side, his film doesn’t
exactly develop these themes. His directing style involves throwing
in as many experimental shots as possible, such as intermittent
black and white documentary-type interviews with Miriam, and the
narrative is just too messy and unrealistic to work. But "Butterfly
Kiss" does not completely fail. There are some touching scenes
where Eunice really opens up to Miriam, and for a brief moment the
director’s wish to lend sympathy to the character comes true.
Eunice is a victim as well as a murderer, but her situation is
just too hopeless, and the story is largely unbelievable.
"Butterfly Kiss" is an original take on the cinematic serial killer
and the road movie, but the director lost the poignant themes that
the film should have communicated.
FILM: "Butterfly Kiss" written by Frank Cottrell Boyce and
directed by Michael Winterbottom. Starring Amanda Plummer and
Saskia Reeves. Grade: B