Papillon

The Greatest Escape Adventure Ever Told.


Papillon
In this remake of the 1973 Steve McQueen vehicle, we follow a French safe-cracker who was wrongly convicted for murder, and condemned for life to the notorious Devil’s Island penal colony, off the coast of French Guiana in South America. Desperate to escape, he befriends a counterfeiter, who agrees to bankroll the escape in return for protection. The book became an international best-seller before being exposed as part-truth and part-fiction.

133 minutes.
No persons under 16 (Language, Violence).
Crime, Detective/Mystery, Drama, Male conflict and bonding, Thriller.

Not currently showing on the local cinema circuit.

I’ll help you escape if you help me find Mr. Robot ...
I’ll help you escape if you help me find Mr. Robot ...

Credits

Cast
Charlie Hunnam, Rami Malek, Tommy Flanagan, Eve Hewson, Roland Møller, Michael Socha
Director
Michael Noer
ScreenplayAaron Guzikowski, based on the book by Henri Charrière and screenplay by Dalton Trumbo and Lorenzo Semple Jr.
MusicDavid Buckley
CinematographyHagen Bogdanski
EditingJohn Axelrad, Lee Haugen
SoundtrackAvailable
Made in2017
Produced byCzech Anglo Productions, FishCorb Films, Red Granite Pictures

Official Site | IMDB page | ScreenIt Report | CommonSenseMedia Report
Scroll down for embedded trailer

Film and Publications Board (FPB) Report (SA)

GenreCrime, drama, mystery
LanguageThe film contains fairly frequent instances of moderate to strong impact crude language. The language occurs in the context of swearing within the setting depicting harsh prison life.
NudityInfrequent low to mild impact partial nudity, including displays of buttocks and female breasts, which does not occur in overtly sexual contexts.
SexNone
ViolenceStrong impact realistic physical and psychological violence, often including blood-letting and injury, occurs frequently.
PrejudiceNone
BlasphemyNone
Drug abuseNone
CommentsThe crime drama mystery film explores themes of escaping prison, friendship in adversity, prolonged solitary confinement, being framed for murder, crime, trauma, despair, optimism, survival, murder, plotting escape, loyalty and cruel conditions in historical penal colonies, presented in a biographical context. These themes are complex and mature and may be confusing to viewers under 16 years. The themes are also intense, based on real-life events and presented realistically with a sense of threat and menace as contained in the threat to the protagonist and his friend's lives and the cruel conditions under which prisoners were kept. Themes may therefore also be disturbing, upsetting and distressing for emotionally immature viewers under 16 years who are not yet able to regulate their emotions, particularly given the enhanced audio-visual effects of the cinematic format, which contributes to the impact of violence, and the overall impact of the film through enhanced visuals and realistic sound effects. Depictions of murder, violent fights for survival, and executions may also be psychologically harmful for viewers under 16 years, with depictions of cruelty and lack of empathy potentially resulting in desensitisation and moral harm for children below this age, who are highly susceptible to media influences. However, the film also contains a number of pro-social considerations, including historical and educational value in telling this biographical tale about historical conditions in penal colonies, and in the positive messages about loyalty, resilience, survival, triumph of the human spirit, triumph, optimism and hope, which will inspire more mature viewers of 16 years and older with the cognitive and emotional maturity and tolerance levels to appreciate and understand the positive messages contained within the potentially harmful portrayals.
These details are supplied by the FPB. If you have a problem with any of the above, please take it up directly with the FPB. Read the Classification Guidelines.

USA MPAA rating

R: RestrictedRated R for violence including bloody images, language, nudity, and some sexual material
Runtime133
USA version is usually but not always the same as South African release. Versions released on streaming or DVD, Blu-ray or Video may also differ.

ScreenIt Report (USA)

Sex / Nudity
5
Violence
5
Blood / Gore / Gross
5
Guns / Weapons
5
Profanity
5
Alcohol / Drugs
2
Smoking
4
Disrespectful / Bad Attitude
5
Imitative Behaviour
4
Frightening / Tense Scenes
4
Jump Scenes
0
Tense Family Scenes
2
Music (Scary/Tense)
5
Music (Inappropriate)
0
Topics to talk about
4

CommonSenseMedia Report (USA)

Suggested age limit
16 +
Positive messages
4
Positive role models
3
Violence
5
Sex
4
Language
4
Consumerism
0
Drinking, drugs, smoking
2

Ratings

Scale (Max)20

What the Critics say

Die Burger
Karla Janse van Vuuren quote iconOorlewingsverhaal gryp opnuut aan.
10
24.com
Ilan Preskovsky quote iconMores the pity, then, that I can’t in good conscious actually recommend Papillon. It gets so much right that I would love to give it at least a moderate recommendation but it fails on such a fundamental level that I honestly can’t imagine it actually working for anyone at all. It’s a truly admirable failure, but it’s a failure nevertheless.
5
ScreenIt
Jim Judy quote iconToo much of the film feels like it’s going through the motions -- of either repeating what the original film offered or simply ticking off the various high and low points of the real story -- rather than having things appear to flow organically.
10
Metacritic.com
29 critics
10
Rottentomatoes critics
86 critics
12
Rottentomatoes tomatometer
Tomatometer quote iconPapillon puts its own well-acted, solidly produced spin on a previously adapted tale, although it may not be quite enough to erase viewers’ memories of the 1973 version.
10
Movie Review Query Engine
MRQE critics quote icon
12
CommonSenseMedia
Michael Ordona quote iconBrutal violence, strong language in prison remake.
10

What the People say

Metacritic.com users
11 users
11
Rottentomatoes users
622 users
15
IMDB
3249 Netizens
14
The Movie DB
Community
16

Average .. 56%

11

Trailer






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