Butterfly - Rückkehr nach Gran Canaria

A film by Itonje Søimer Guttormsen. In Norwegian, English, Spanish, German with German subtitles.

Two half-sisters (Renate Reinsve, Helene Bjørneby) are reunited after 25 years in Gran Canaria, where they grew up in an all-inclusive resort. Following the death of their esoteric mother, the very different women are forced to come to terms with their shared past.

“Even before modern tourism disfigured the coastal landscapes of the Canary Islands with hotel complexes, these islands—which belong to Spain—were a destination for dropouts and hippies. For very little money, one could live here, indulge in esoteric pursuits, found communities, in some cases even live in caves, and build a life free from the constraints of capitalist civilisation. (…) Through Lily’s eyes – and, at times, through her video camera – we encounter the esoteric subculture of the Canary Islands, seen through the eyes of a decidedly aloof, cynical woman who keeps herself and her emotions hidden away in a cocoon. At first, Lily views her mother’s world with disdain; her mother had gathered a large circle of friends and like-minded people around her on Gran Canaria, whom Lily gradually gets to know. The psychological and physical wounds the sisters have sustained as a result of their mother’s lifestyle only gradually become apparent; Diana walks with a stick, which she doesn’t actually need. There is also mention of sexual assault by one of Vera’s partners. Yet it soon becomes clear that their mother’s life was not all that different from Lily’s; at first glance, Lily’s art performance seems scarcely less strange than some of the rituals through which their mother sought to open herself up to the currents of the cosmos. In loose-knit scenes that soon depict, in an almost documentary-like manner, the subcultures still thriving on Gran Canaria today, Itonjes Søimer Guttormsen circles her characters, experiments with different film formats, and increasingly immerses herself in the island’s free spirits. In these sequences, she hints at the difficult relationship between mother and daughters, who are understandably not on good terms with their mother, but who ultimately come to realise what they had in their free-spirited mother.”
Michael Meyns | programmkino.de

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

Credits:

NO/UK/SE/DE 2026, 116 mins, Norwegian, English, Spanish, German (original version with German subtitles)
Director & Screenplay: Itonje Søimer Guttormsen
Cinematography: David Raedeker
Editing: Kristin Grundström & Itonje Søimer Guttormsen
Starring: Renate Reinsve, Helene Bjørnebye, Lillian Müller, Numan Acar

Trailer:

nach oben

Butterfly – Rückkehr nach Gran Canaria