La Chasse aux papillons

Plot

Two older women, Marie-Agnès de Bayonette (Thamara Tarassachvili) and her cousin Solange (Narda Blanchet) live in a villa nestled in the hills over a nearby village. Surrounded by the wealth, memories, and treasures collected over their lifetimes, they purposely ignore real estate development interests from the nearby town, specially those led by repeated efforts of the local magistrate who urges them to sell their home to a Japanese investment group. They survive financially by the occasional sale of a piece of antique furniture. When Marie-Agnès dies unexpectedly, Solange has to deal with an heir from Moscow and renewed efforts that the estate be sold.

Cast

In casting his films, Otar Iosseliani admitted to preferring unknowns, feeling that a famous name could be equated to hiring a whore. In wishing to have viewer's feel like they were watching not actors but people, his casts were recruited mainly from his personal address book.

Release

The film had multiple international releases 1992 through 1995, and screened at the Thessaloniki International Film Festival in 2003. Its original French release title is La Chasse aux papillons, but it also screened as A Caça às Borboletas in Portugal, as Caccia alle farfalle in Italy, Jagd auf Schmetterlinge in Germany, as Kelebek avi in Turkey, as Lepkevadászat in Hungary, as Peplebze nadiroba (ნადირობა პეპლებზე) in Georgia, as Охота на бабочек in Russia, as Polowanie na motyle in Poland, and as To kynigi tis petaloudas in Greece. In English it was released as The Butterfly Hunt, Hunting Butterflies, and Chasing Butterflies.

Critical response

The film was shown in 1993 Moscow International Film Festival as a part of the program which demonstrated award-winning 1992 films. In the reaction, it was noted that the film is typical for Otar Iosseliani in the sense that it gives the notion of the rytmus. The best scenes of the film are those where no dramatic action occurs. It was also noted that France as shown by Iosseliani is very much like Georgia as shown by him in previous films.

Awards and nominations