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Butterfly Tongues
Metascore
69 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 23 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 18 out of 23
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 23
  3. Negative: 1 out of 23
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  1. Philadelphia Inquirer
    Reviewed by: Desmond Ryan
    100
    Manages the rare feat of being both bleak and deeply rewarding.
    All this critic's reviews
  2. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: Lisa Alspector
    90
    Some delicately interwoven and unresolved subplots help make the young character's rite of passage wholly, disturbingly compelling.
  3. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: John Petrakis
    88
    May be a bit sentimental for some, but I found its patient examination of how the forces of optimism can be overwhelmed by a wave of cruelty to be both moving and wise.
    All this critic's reviews
  4. Christian Science Monitor
    Reviewed by: David Sterritt
    88
    A powerful ending lends a strong emotional charge to this prettily filmed drama, but too much of the story is taken up with romantic clichés about the everyday challenges of childhood.
  5. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Bob Graham
    88
    Has a saccharine quality but also offers a memorable performance by famed Spanish actor Fernando Fernan Gomez.
  6. Baltimore Sun
    Reviewed by: Chris Kaltenbach
    88
    A movie of unforced nobility and quiet pleasures, Butterfly works on all sorts of levels.
    All this critic's reviews
  7. Dallas Observer
    Reviewed by: Bill Gallo
    80
    The movies' time-honored old-man-and-boy theme has rarely been used to such great advantage.
  8. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Kevin Thomas
    80
    A beautiful, harrowing film of understated power and perception that affords Fernando Fernán Gómez, the Spanish cinema's great, weathered veteran, yet another of his unforgettable performances.
  9. Time
    Reviewed by: Richard Corliss
    80
    A savory cocktail with a bitter twist.
  10. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    75
    Because the film marches so inexorably toward its conclusion, it would be unfair to hint at what happens, except to say that it provides a heartbreaking insight into the way that fear creates cowards.
  11. Miami Herald
    Reviewed by: Rene Rodriguez
    75
    An exploration of how fear and mob rule can poison even the purest of souls.
    All this critic's reviews
  12. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Lou Lumenick
    75
    Butterfly doesn't require much knowledge of history to appreciate, but it really isn't suitable for very young audiences either.
    All this critic's reviews
  13. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Lisa Schwarzbaum
    75
    Diverges to become something quite powerfully unnerving and guilt-ridden.
  14. Seattle Post-Intelligencer
    Reviewed by: Sean Axmaker
    75
    Outside national borders, this naive vantage point is an entry into a country's history and culture, explaining without seeming patronizing.
  15. Mr. Showbiz
    Reviewed by: Cody Clark
    70
    The story is a pleasant one despite its pointed righteousness.
    All this critic's reviews
  16. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Dana Stevens
    70
    Delicate, quietly devastating.
  17. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Michael O'Sullivan
    70
    The film's climax was only one of several moments that left me utterly verklempt, without ever knowing that my buttons were being pushed.
  18. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Marjorie Baumgarten
    67
    It's a rare film that can make us look so deeply into the dark soul of the seemingly benign.
  19. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Michael Atkinson
    60
    It's boilerplate Miramax: a sentimental import with lovingly photographed Euro locale.
  20. Portland Oregonian
    Reviewed by: Kim Morgan
    58
    The film isn't terrible, it's just trying too hard.
    All this critic's reviews
  21. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Maitland McDonagh
    50
    Though beautifully photographed, acted and written (the three source stories are skillfully blended into a single narrative), this leisurely, bittersweet look at a child's loss of innocence ends rather abruptly and inconclusively.
  22. L.A. Weekly
    Reviewed by: Ella Taylor
    50
    The family flags palpable agony... provides the movie's only earned emotional tension.
  23. Film.com
    Reviewed by: Ernest Hardy
    20
    In the end, Butterfly is an infuriating film because it's so very contrived, so annoyingly phony.
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