Le Papillon, 2005
interactive video
_Actor : Mathieu Amalric
Collection : Musée National d’Art Moderne (Centre Pompidou)

The Butterfly is a character searching for happiness. When he finds it, the film continues but the action stops. A tranquil musical score lulls the viewers who watch the animated picture of an unending happy ending, which may be pleasant enough for the character but ends up boring viewers. To escape the boredom, the viewer can trigger action by pressing a button, whereupon the character reassesses his life and sets off in search of something new: he becomes a politician, a priest, a vagabond…
There is also a non-interactive version of The Butterfly, titled The Inconstancies of the Butterfly.

THE BUTTERFLY / SYNOPSIS
At first, he’s nothing.

He wants to be active in the world.
He finds a job.
He works wholeheartedly,
happy to feel integrated.

Injustices outrage him.
He joins a union.
He takes up politics.
He makes a career of it.
He treasures the taste of the
power that will soon be his.
He finds dominating the masses thrilling.

Responsibilities bore him.
He decides to leave everything behind
and live footloose and fancy-free.
He’s happy with his simple life of
fruit-picking and wandering about.

Hunger gnaws at him.
Considering that property is theft, he moves
from minor thefts to major plunder.
Easy money goes to his head.
He treasures this rediscovered golden age.

He’s concerned about posterity.
He discovers that he’s really an artist.
Fame comes quickly.
He delights in thinking of the
admiration of future generations.

Posterity does not ward off death.
He worries about the beyond.
He gets himself baptized.
He becomes ordained.
He’s assigned a parish.
He finds fulfillment in watching over his flock.

Abstinence weighs on him.
He decides to listen to his body’s desires.
He gives himself over to the
pleasure of the senses.
He thrives on the enjoyment of every instant.
He worries about ruining his health.
He decides to live a wholesome life.
He moves to the country and tends his garden.
He realizes that living outdoors is made for him.

The world is big and his garden small.
Distant lands attract him.
He sets off to travel around the world.
He now swears by this life free of attachments.

He falls in love.
He wants to be loved in return.
He succeeds in winning her over.
They get married and have children.
He has a feeling of accomplishment.

He can’t take the conformism
of his life anymore.
He begins denouncing capitalist oppression
and joins the armed struggle.
This adventurous and clandestine
life exhilarates him.

He gets sick of eating plain pasta.
He wants to be rich.
He gets to work and succeeds.
He relishes the opulence.

He realizes the vanity of all things.
He decides to withdraw from the world.
He finds serenity in the life of a hermit.

The solitude weighs on him.
He recruits disciples.
He establishes an order.
He becomes the object of worship.
Being worshiped thrills him.

He wants to cure himself of this intoxication.
He returns to the world to look for a job.

etc.