FLOAT LIKE A BUTTERFLY plays TIFF 2018

FLOAT LIKE A BUTTERFLY is the story of Frances (Hazel Doupe), teenage daughter to a family of Irish travellers (gypsies). At an early age she witnesses tragedy when her family runs across the law, and from then on she lives with a fighter’s spirit. She dreams of going to Dublin to one day see Muhammed Ali fight in-person, but until then she will fight to keep her family safe…sometimes even from itself.

This film by Carmel Winters is all about trust – trust and the absence of it. Ireland in the era of this film was deeply distrustful of travellers, and the travellers were in-turn distrustful of settlers. The film begs us to look past such differences – to go beyond label. It wants us to look our opponent in the eye, since perhaps then we’ll notice that we’re actually fighting on the same side.

The amazing thing is that FLOAT LIKE A BUTTERFLY is also about trusting those closest to us, perhaps even when we shouldn’t. Frances’ father lets her down time and time and time again. He makes bad choices stubbornness, drunkenness, and desperation alike. And yet, every time these decisions knock Frances down, she gets up off the matt again and trusts anew. We are made to understand that just because she can clearly fight for herself it doesn’t mean she wants to go through life fighting the people she loves.

Interwoven into this story, there is much said about masculinity and femininity. There are notes on forgiveness and grace, as well as brushstrokes of how much we learn just by quietly watching the ones we care most about. If we look and listen, we can see how much they’ve grown, as well as how much they’ve regressed.

FLOAT LIKE A BUTTERFLY – to steal the common phrase – isn’t about how many times one gets knocked down, but how many times they get back up. The world Frances lives in will be hard for her after the credits for this film have rolled. She will face mistreatment and abuses from all sides, and it will be made all the worse because she is a traveller. Still, the film leaves us hopeful. It has us believing as our time with Frances ends that no matter how many times she might get knocked down in life, she will always find a way to get back up.

Not only that – once she’s up, whoever knocked her down best mind themselves…since she can sting like a bee.