The Brahmin and the Butterfly (French: La Chrysalide et le Papillon d'or, literally "The Chrysalis and the Golden Butterfly") is a 1901 French shortsilentfantasy film, directed by Georges Méliès.
A Brahmin, playing the flute in a rainforest, lures a large caterpillar toward him. The caterpillar is placed in a cocoon, from which it emerges as a woman-butterfly. Infatuated, the Brahmin tries to capture her with a blanket; when she reappears from inside the blanket, she has turned into a princess. When the Brahmin attempts to kiss her, the princess transforms him into the caterpillar.
Production and themes
The Brahmin and the Butterfly was inspired by Buatier de Kolta's 1885 magic act Le Cocon, ou Le Ver à Soie. In the act, de Kolta drew a silkworm on paper; the paper broke to reveal a cocoon, which opened to reveal de Kolta's wife dressed as a butterfly.[1] Méliès's film maintains the links to the myth of Pygmalion and Galatea, a theme beloved of stage magicians, but gives it a new comic twist.[2] The ending of the film makes it unusual among Méliès's oeuvre: where usually his male characters lead the action and his female characters are reduced to supporting roles, here the butterfly-princess seizes control of the story and wins out over Méliès's own character.[2]
The Brahmin and the Butterfly was released by Méliès's Star Film Company and is listed as numbers 332–333 in its catalogues. Like many of Méliès's films, it was sold both in black-and-white and in a version hand-colored by the studio of Elisabeth Thuillier.[1] The film survives only in black-and-white; in 1979, the film scholar Jacques Malthête recreated the hand-colored version using historically authentic technology, applying eight color tones to a black-and-white print.[1]
The film was screened in 2000 at the Pordenone Silent Film Festival in Italy. The film scholar Paolo Cherchi Usai contributed a one-sentence program note: "The most beautiful love story of early cinema!"[3]
References
^ abcdEssai de reconstitution du catalogue français de la Star-Film; suivi d'une analyse catalographique des films de Georges Méliès recensés en France, Bois d'Arcy: Service des archives du film du Centre national de la cinématographie, 1981, pp. 94–95, ISBN2903053073, OCLC 10506429
^ abFrazer, John (1979), Artificially Arranged Scenes: The Films of Georges Méliès, Boston: G. K. Hall & Co., p. 87, ISBN0816183686
brahmin, butterfly, french, chrysalide, papillon, literally, chrysalis, golden, butterfly, 1901, french, short, silent, fantasy, film, directed, georges, méliès, chrysalide, papillon, ordirected, bygeorges, mélièsstarringgeorges, mélièsrelease, date1901, 1901,. The Brahmin and the Butterfly French La Chrysalide et le Papillon d or literally The Chrysalis and the Golden Butterfly is a 1901 French short silent fantasy film directed by Georges Melies La Chrysalide et le Papillon d orDirected byGeorges MeliesStarringGeorges MeliesRelease date1901 1901 Running time2minCountryFranceLanguageSilent Contents 1 Synopsis 2 Production and themes 3 Release and reception 4 References 5 External linksSynopsis EditA Brahmin playing the flute in a rainforest lures a large caterpillar toward him The caterpillar is placed in a cocoon from which it emerges as a woman butterfly Infatuated the Brahmin tries to capture her with a blanket when she reappears from inside the blanket she has turned into a princess When the Brahmin attempts to kiss her the princess transforms him into the caterpillar Production and themes EditThe Brahmin and the Butterfly was inspired by Buatier de Kolta s 1885 magic act Le Cocon ou Le Ver a Soie In the act de Kolta drew a silkworm on paper the paper broke to reveal a cocoon which opened to reveal de Kolta s wife dressed as a butterfly 1 Melies s film maintains the links to the myth of Pygmalion and Galatea a theme beloved of stage magicians but gives it a new comic twist 2 The ending of the film makes it unusual among Melies s oeuvre where usually his male characters lead the action and his female characters are reduced to supporting roles here the butterfly princess seizes control of the story and wins out over Melies s own character 2 Melies appears in the film as the Brahmin The effects for the film were created using stage machinery and substitution splices 1 Release and reception EditThe Brahmin and the Butterfly was released by Melies s Star Film Company and is listed as numbers 332 333 in its catalogues Like many of Melies s films it was sold both in black and white and in a version hand colored by the studio of Elisabeth Thuillier 1 The film survives only in black and white in 1979 the film scholar Jacques Malthete recreated the hand colored version using historically authentic technology applying eight color tones to a black and white print 1 The film was screened in 2000 at the Pordenone Silent Film Festival in Italy The film scholar Paolo Cherchi Usai contributed a one sentence program note The most beautiful love story of early cinema 3 References Edit a b c d Essai de reconstitution du catalogue francais de la Star Film suivi d une analyse catalographique des films de Georges Melies recenses en France Bois d Arcy Service des archives du film du Centre national de la cinematographie 1981 pp 94 95 ISBN 2903053073 OCLC 10506429 a b Frazer John 1979 Artificially Arranged Scenes The Films of Georges Melies Boston G K Hall amp Co p 87 ISBN 0816183686 Chrysalide et le Papillon La Giornate Database Pordenone Silent Film Festival 2000 retrieved 17 December 2017External links EditThe Brahmin and the Butterfly at IMDb Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title The Brahmin and the Butterfly amp oldid 1095482707, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
