Papillon

This breathtaking film about the (un)freedom of man and his mind cleverly took perhaps not the best, but certainly the most attractive passages from Charrière's novel and made them unforgettable. Even the arrival at the camp (yes, like the guillotine scene) leaves no one in any doubt that Devil’s Islands is truly evil, and what happens over the next two hours only underscores everything. The claustrophobic "solitary confinement" scene, which I dreamt about for a couple of nights, the failed escape attempts that only increase Papillon's desire for freedom, the heart attack finale... And many others. The film is great thanks to the McQueen-Hoffman duo, Schaffner's oppressive direction and, of course, Jerry Goldsmith's pleasantly melancholic score. Five stars and never less. (12/08/2010)

To tell the truth, I had to watch it twice because I was getting terribly bored already before it reached the middle. Papillon is unremarkably executed, without any escalation, with a story that never has a chance of being interesting; very disappointing overall. It felt like a TV movie that by some miracle managed to get a star cast, which gave the creators the mistaken idea that they didn’t need to do anything else. Boring, grey. (23/01/2009)

The craftsmanship is absolutely top-notch, the atmosphere absorbs you and doesn't let you breathe a sigh of relief. But it is also unforgivably lengthy and at times truly empty, like the same magnificent Da Vinci painting hanging on every wall of a gallery. The actors are amazing, the idea is immortal, boredom is sometimes present. 80% (25/02/2018)

Steve McQueen undergoes such a physical transformation during the film that when I see his sunken cheeks and decrepit body, I'm inclined to believe he actually spent those years in solitary confinement. The whole film feels raw and very real. Putting aside Darabont's The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile, Papillon is the best prison drama ever made and the fact that it is based on a true story adds to its quality. (13/04/2003)

Overrated film, or a film that I need to have a slightly different life experience to truly accept it as something great. No, I didn't like the story, which was extremely stretched out, and I didn't even like the silence of the characters throughout the whole film. Acting was good, but that definitely wasn't enough for me. (04/09/2015)