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Parents' Guide to

Black Butterflies

By Melissa Camacho, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 16+

Superb French psych-thriller is violent, sexually explicit.

TV Netflix Drama 2022
Black Butterflies TV Show: poster.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this TV show.

  • Black Butterflies TV Show: Adrien and Albert.
  • Black Butterflies TV Show: Albert and Solange.
  • Black Butterflies TV Show: On the road for a spree.

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What's the Story?

BLACK BUTTERFLIES (Les papillons noirs) is a French thriller about a struggling novelist who inadvertently finds himself working for a serial killer. When struggling novelist Adrien Winckler (Nicolas Duvachelle) is asked by the elderly and ill Albert Desiderio (Niels Arestrup) to write his memoirs, he thinks it's just a ghostwriting job. But Winckler soon learns that the story Desiderio is telling is about his romance with a young woman named Solange Martin (Alyzée Costes), and how they killed people. Soon the writer finds himself consumed by this narrative in unexpected ways.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say: Not yet rated
Kids say: Not yet rated

The six-part French series is a sinister thriller that explores love, hate, and the legacy of shame. Flashbacks reveal how Adrien Winckler imagines a young Albert Desiderio (played by Axel Granberger) and Solange, and how their relationship evolved from an innocent friendship between two children stigmatized for being wartime babies born from illicit relationships with military occupiers, to a romance defined by passion and sexualized violence. As the novelist writes and slowly unravels, the parallels drawn between his life and that of the couple take viewers on a strange and complicated journey. Heightening the effect are the multiple cinematic styles incorporated throughout the storytelling process. Black Butterflies is dark and engaging, an entertaining and binge-worthy watch for those who like mature psychological horror.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about the "children of shame" in France and Belgium. How has this legacy of shame been passed down to new generations? What has been its impact?

  • Is it necessary to show extreme violence on a TV series to make it more thrilling or entertaining? Could Black Butterfly be as dark and horrific if it was less graphic? Why or why not?

TV Details

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