- 3 months ago
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Short filmTranscript
00:00The story begins in 1930s Paris, where Henri Charrière, nicknamed Papillon for the butterfly
00:06tattoo on his chest, moves through the city's criminal underworld as an expert safecracker.
00:11Despite his illegal work, he follows his own moral code and enjoys a lavish life with his
00:16partner, Nanette. But their fast-paced days come to an abrupt end when an unexpected injustice
00:22tears everything apart. One fateful night, Papillon is arrested for a murder he did not
00:28commit. Though Nanette provides him with a solid alibi, the corrupt judicial system of France
00:33disregards her testimony and evidence of his innocence. The authorities seek a culprit and
00:39Papillon becomes their convenient target. Condemned to life imprisonment with hard labor, he is
00:45sentenced to the notorious Devil's Island Penal Colony in French Guiana, a hellish fortress from
00:50which no man has ever escaped. The moment Papillon hears his sentence, he knows his freedom has been
00:56stolen, and only through cunning and determination can he hope to reclaim it. The journey to French
01:02Guiana unfolds aboard a crowded transport ship where inmates from across France are shackled together
01:07in the bowels of the vessel. It is during this voyage that Papillon's fate intertwines with that
01:12of Louis Degas, a peculiar counterfeiter from Marseille. Degas, who has been sentenced for financial crimes
01:19involving counterfeit national defense bonds, is visibly nervous and anxious about his new life.
01:24On their first night aboard the ship, the true horrors of prison life become immediately apparent.
01:31Two vicious convicts murder a prisoner sleeping next to Degas, brutally cutting open his stomach
01:35to retrieve money the man had swallowed and hidden inside his body before boarding. The violence is
01:41sudden and shocking, revealing the savage nature of the world Papillon has entered. Realizing that Degas
01:48is also suspected of hiding money and is now marked for death, Papillon springs to his aid, fighting off
01:54the attackers with fierce intensity. Though Papillon is beaten and punished by guards for his involvement
01:59in the altercation, he saves Degas life in those crucial moments. Degas, recognizing that he cannot survive
02:06even a single day without Papillon's protection, proposes an arrangement. In exchange for Papillon's continued
02:13protection, Degas will finance an escape. What begins as a purely transactional relationship
02:18between two desperate men gradually evolves into a profound and unbreakable bond of friendship,
02:24forged through shared suffering and mutual dependence. Upon arrival at the penal colony,
02:29both men are confronted with the nightmarish reality of their new existence.
02:34The prison is a sprawling complex of brutal labor camps where prisoners are subjected
02:38to exhausting work under the harsh tropical sun. Food is scarce, beatings are frequent,
02:44and death arrives with regularity. Guards wield their authority with casual cruelty,
02:49and the hierarchy among prisoners is established through violence and intimidation.
02:53Papillon and Degas are assigned to work details that test their physical endurance and mental
02:58fortitude daily. One afternoon, while Papillon and Degas are ordered to carry away the decapitated
03:03body of a recently guillotined prisoner, a guard singles out Degas for no apparent reason and
03:08begins whipping him with brutal force. Degas falls to the ground under the assault, seemingly resigned
03:14to whatever punishment awaits him, but Papillon, watching his friend suffer, feels something surge
03:19within him that transcends self-preservation. In a moment of pure rage and defiance, he picks up a rock
03:25and strikes the guard across the skull, sending him to the ground. Knowing that this act of rebellion
03:30will cost him dearly, Papillon does not hesitate. He runs into the jungle surrounding the prison camp,
03:36disappearing into the dense foliage in his first desperate attempt to escape. The consequences are
03:41swift and merciless. Guards pursue Papillon through the jungle, eventually capturing him after a brutal
03:47confrontation in the swamp. He is brought back to the prison broken and covered in wounds,
03:52and his punishment is two years of silent solitary confinement. Locked in a dark cell, Papillon is left
03:59alone with nothing but his thoughts and the sound of his own breathing. The guards reduce his food
04:04rations to barely enough to survive, and he learns that the warden has discovered he was receiving
04:09extra food from somewhere. The guards demand that he reveal his source, threatening him with starvation.
04:15But Papillon, bound by loyalty and honor, refuses to betray Degas. He does not speak the name of his
04:21friend, even when faced with slow death by malnutrition. The years in solitary transform Papillon.
04:27He loses significant weight, his body becoming gaunt and skeletal. His hair grows long and his mind
04:33exists in a twilight state between sanity and madness. He spends his days counting the minutes,
04:38the hours, the days. Eventually, his body reaches the breaking point. He becomes so physically
04:44deteriorated that he can barely move, and the guards are forced to transfer him to the prison hospital to
04:49prevent him from dying from complete physical collapse. As fortune would have it, Degas is now working in the same
04:55prison hospital where Papillon has been brought. Over the past year and a half, Degas has proven himself
05:00trustworthy and reliable to the warden, earning privileges and protection that allowed him to
05:05gain employment in the infirmary. When Degas discovers Papillon being brought into the hospital,
05:11he is shocked by his friend's skeletal appearance and the ravages of solitary confinement upon his body.
05:17During his time in the hospital, Papillon begins to feign absolute madness, screaming, ranting incoherently,
05:22and acting like a man who has lost his grip on sanity. Degas initially worries about his friend,
05:27but Papillon manages to communicate through gestures and whispered words that he is only pretending to
05:32be insane. This deception is his strategy to remain hospitalized and avoid being sent back to the
05:37darkness of solitary. As long as he is deemed dangerously mentally ill, the prison will keep him
05:43in the hospital rather than risk him harming other inmates. Over several weeks, as Papillon's physical
05:49health slowly improves in the hospital's relative comfort, he and Degas begin making plans for
05:54another escape. This time, they will not attempt a hasty, poorly planned rush. Instead, they carefully
06:01recruit two additional prisoners to join them, ensuring they have the right combination of strength
06:06and cunning. Papillon selects Selye, the strong and conniving prisoner who had previously tried to steal Degas money.
06:14Despite Selye's earlier betrayal of trust, Papillon recognizes that the man's ruthlessness
06:18and connections within the prison could prove valuable. Degas, meanwhile, recruits Mathurette,
06:25a quiet, vulnerable prisoner who is constantly exploited and bullied by the other inmates.
06:30Mathurette has no one in the world and no hope for a better future,
06:34making him desperate enough to risk everything for a chance at escape.
06:38Degas liquidates his entire savings and provides all of it to Selye,
06:42who uses his underworld connections to purchase a boat. The transaction is dangerous and expensive,
06:48but Selye assures them that a small vessel will be waiting at the shore when they need it. The four
06:53men finalize their plan. They will escape during movie night when the guards will be distracted and
06:58fewer men will be on patrol. Movie night arrives and the plan springs into action. Several prison
07:03officials arrive to watch the film, and as planned, Degas is assigned to serve them drinks.
07:08Following the arrangement, he drugs the officials' beverages using sedative pills that were supposedly
07:13meant to calm a mentally unstable Papillon. Once the drugs begin taking effect and the guards are
07:18drowsy and disoriented, Degas steals the keys to the main gate. Inside the prison, Papillon and the others
07:24are waiting anxiously. Suddenly, the weather turns ominous. Dark clouds roll in and rain begins to fall
07:31heavily. The electrical system of the prison fails in the storm, plunging the facility into darkness.
07:37Selye grows panicked and suggests they abandon the plan and try to find another route,
07:41fearing they've lost their advantage. But Papillon absolutely refuses to leave without Degas.
07:46He will not betray his friend, and he will not escape alone. The group waits, tense and afraid.
07:52Degas arrives just in time, key in hand. Taking advantage of the darkness, the four men use the stolen
07:58key to break open the main gate and rush toward Torii, the perimeter of the prison. They move quickly
08:04through the darkness, knowing guards could discover them at any moment. Soon, they arrive at a cliff face
08:09overlooking the ocean. The only route to the shore requires them to jump down a significant distance
08:14into the darkness below. Papillon, Selye, and Maturette successfully make the jump, landing hard on the
08:21rocks below but remaining conscious and relatively uninjured. However, when it's Degas' turn, the prison's
08:27electrical system suddenly surges back to life, flooding the area with bright light.
08:31Startled and blinded by the sudden illumination, Degas loses his footing mid-jump. He lands awkwardly
08:37on the rocks below and a sharp crack echoes through the night. His leg is broken, possibly in multiple
08:43places. Now injured and unable to walk, Degas is a liability. Selye immediately suggests they leave him
08:49behind, arguing that carrying an injured man will slow them down and doom them all. But Papillon will not
08:55hear of it. He refuses to abandon Degas after all they have endured together. Instead, Papillon and
09:00Maturette physically carry the injured Degas, supporting his weight between them as they limp
09:05painfully toward the shore. Through sheer determination and the strength of friendship,
09:09they manage to reach the beach where the boat awaits them. The four fugitives push off from the
09:14shore, heading into the open ocean. For a brief moment, it seems they might actually succeed,
09:19that freedom is finally within their grasp. But the ocean has other plans. As they row through the
09:25water in their small vessel, a massive storm approaches on the horizon. The sky darkens and
09:30the winds grow violent. It becomes clear that their tiny boat cannot support the weight of all four men
09:36in such treacherous conditions. Selye, a brutal and pragmatic man, decides that survival means sacrifice.
09:43He moves toward Degas with clear intent to kill him and throw his body overboard, reducing the boat's burden.
09:49Papillon, spotting the danger, moves to defend his friend. A vicious fight erupts between Papillon and
09:55Selye, two desperate men struggling for control of the boat as the storm rages around them. Selye,
10:01being larger and more physically powerful, begins to overpower Papillon. It seems Papillon will be killed
10:06in the struggle, but Degas, watching his friend being beaten, finds his own courage. He pulls a knife,
10:12and in an act of desperation and loyalty, stabs Selye from behind. Papillon and Degas, together,
10:17throw Selye's body into the churning ocean. They manage to pull Matouret back into the boat,
10:22but the storm is now upon them in full force. Waves crash over the small vessel and water begins to
10:28flood the interior. The three survivors cling to the boat as it is tossed about like a toy,
10:33the ocean threatening to claim them all. Miraculously, the boat washes ashore and the three exhausted,
10:40nearly drowned men find themselves on the coast of Colombia. A convent nearby takes them in,
10:45and the nuns care for their wounds and provide them shelter. For a brief, glorious moment,
10:50it seems that they have achieved the impossible. They have escaped the prison, survived the ocean,
10:55and found refuge in civilization. Degas and Matouret rest, hoping that they might somehow
11:01slip away and disappear into the Colombian countryside. But their reprieve is devastatingly short.
11:07A nun, who takes a particular interest in one of the men, informs the Colombian authorities of their
11:13presence. Police arrive at the convent and, in a moment of shocking violence, open fire on the
11:19prisoners. Matouret is shot immediately and falls dead. Papillon and Degas attempt to flee, but they
11:25are quickly surrounded and captured. They are dragged back into custody and, as punishment for their escape
11:31attempt, Papillon is sentenced to five more years in solitary confinement. Degas is sent to Devil's
11:37Island, the most remote and notorious prison in the entire system. Papillon's second period of solitary
11:43is even more brutal than the first. By the time he is finally released, he has aged dramatically. His hair
11:50is completely grey, his face is deeply lined, and he moves like an old man despite being in his mid-forties.
11:56The prison system has done everything in its power to break him, to extinguish the spark of defiance
12:01that still burns somewhere deep inside. He has transferred to Devil's Island, where he is reunited
12:07with Degas, who has spent years in relative stability, working and maintaining a fragile peace with his
12:13existence. Devil's Island is the most formidable prison of all. Built on a rocky island surrounded by
12:20treacherous cliffs and shark-infested waters, it is considered utterly inescapable. The cliffs
12:26drop 120 feet to the ocean below, and the current is deadly. The island is small and heavily guarded,
12:32with nowhere to hide and no way to flee without facing certain death. When Papillon arrives, broken
12:39and weathered by years of solitary confinement, even he is shaken by the hopelessness of his situation.
12:46Degas has grown accustomed to life on Devil's Island. He no longer dreams of escape. Instead,
12:51he has made a quiet peace with his imprisonment. When Papillon suggests another attempt, Degas is
12:56reluctant and despairing. He tells Papillon that they will never escape, that the ocean and the
13:02island are insurmountable obstacles. But Papillon, still carrying the fire of defiance in his heart,
13:08refuses to accept defeat. He convinces Degas that one final attempt must be made, that they cannot spend the
13:14rest of their lives in captivity. With a makeshift raft as his only hope, Papillon begins collecting
13:19coconut husks, and tying them together with fibers from the island's vegetation. Day after day,
13:24he secretly constructs a crude flotation device, hiding it from the guards. He studies the ocean
13:30currents, observing how debris flows away from the island during certain tidal patterns. He notes the
13:35guard rotations and times when the watchtowers are less vigilant. Every moment of free time is dedicated to
13:42this final escape plan. When the moment finally arrives, Papillon takes his improvised raft,
13:47a bundle of coconuts lashed together with crude bindings, to the cliff's edge at dawn. He says
13:53farewell to Degas, hugging his friend and telling him that even if he does not survive, Degas will
13:58always carry him in his heart. The words are heavy with finality as both men understand that this is
14:04likely their last moment together. With no further hesitation, Papillon throws himself off the 120-foot cliff
14:11into the crashing ocean below. The fall is terrifying, and the impact with the water is violent,
14:17but Papillon surfaces, clinging to his raft with desperate strength. The ocean currents that he has
14:22studied for months now carry him away from the island, away from Devil's Island and its horrors.
14:27He drifts for three days and nights, battling exhaustion, dehydration, hunger, and the very real fear
14:33that sharks will find him. The sun beats down mercilessly during the day, and the cold creeps into his bones at
14:39night. Several times, he comes close to surrender, to simply letting go and slipping beneath the waves,
14:46but something in Papillon's spirit refuses to break. The same defiance that carried him through
14:51years of solitary confinement drives him forward. He remembers every promise he made to himself,
14:57every moment he endured for the sake of freedom. After three days adrift, he spots land. It is the coast
15:04of British Guiana, and miraculously, against all odds, he has reached safety. He drags himself onto the
15:11beach, more dead than alive, but finally free from the prison that held him captive for over a decade.
15:16The film closes with a postscript, explaining that Henri Charrière survived his ordeal and eventually
15:22returned to France after the French government granted him amnesty in 1970. He wrote a memoir,
15:28titled Papillon, based on his experiences in the penal colony, which became an international bestseller
15:34that has sold over 13 million copies in 30 languages. The prison system that destroyed so
15:40many lives was eventually dismantled, but Papillon's legacy endured. A testament to the indomitable human
15:47spirit and the power of hope in the face of absolute oppression. His story demonstrated that no prison,
15:54no matter how brutal or seemingly inescapable, can truly hold a man whose will to be free remains unbroken.
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