The Brahmin and the Butterfly
About The Brahmin and the Butterfly
A Brahmin, played by Georges Méliès, plays a flute in a forest and draws a large caterpillar to him. He puts it in a cocoon. A woman-butterfly comes out. He tries to catch her in a blanket. She comes back out of the blanket as a princess. When he tries to kiss her, she turns him into the caterpillar. The French title is La Chrysalide et le Papillon d’or.
Cast & crew
More about The Brahmin and the Butterfly
Star Film numbered it 332–333. Wikipedia times it at 2 minutes. The effects are stage machinery and substitution splices. Star Film sold black-and-white prints and prints hand-colored by Elisabeth Thuillier’s studio. Only a black-and-white copy survives. In 1979 Jacques Malthête rebuilt a colored version with eight tones. The trick follows Buatier de Kolta’s 1885 act Le Cocon, ou Le Ver à Soie, in which a drawn silkworm became a cocoon and then his wife as a butterfly.
Themes
Making
Méliès played the Brahmin himself and cut the caterpillar, the butterfly, and the princess with splices on a stage set.
Preservation
Only a black-and-white print survives. Jacques Malthête recreated a hand-colored version in 1979.
Notes
- The princess is the same figure as the butterfly. The blanket is the change.
- The last transformation is the magician, not the woman.
- Thuillier’s colors are gone from the surviving print.
- A Commons file uses the French title.
Scenes
- The caterpillar comes to the flute and goes into the cocoon.
- The woman-butterfly steps out.
- The kiss turns the Brahmin into the caterpillar.
Influenced by
- Buatier de Kolta’s 1885 act Le Cocon, ou Le Ver à Soie
Also available
- Wikimedia Commons (La Chrysalide et le Papillon d'or.webm)
