Nadia, Butterfly (2020)

Director: Pascal Plante
Stars: Katerine Savard, Ariane Mainville, Pierre-Yves Cardinal
Runtime: 107 minutes

Synopsis: Nadia, an Olympic swimmer in her twenties, faces the challenges of her imminent retirement.

Verdict: Set in an alternate universe in which the pandemic didn’t happen and the Tokyo Olympics went ahead as planned, “Nadia, Butterfly” follows the aftermath of a young Canadian competitive swimmer’s final race before her premature retirement from the sport.

It’s a grounded exploration of an athlete’s decision to let go of years of rigorous training to reach the very top of her profession. A journey she started at a very young age, unaware of the extremely competitive and selfish nature of the sporting world which eventually took a toll on her. The fact that our lead character is played by Katherine Savard, a real-life professional swimmer whose specialization and Olympic record are far too similar to Nadia’s, adds a lot of weight to her performance. Being a character study, her acting is at the center of the film’s narrative, and she does a fantastic job carrying the load of Nadia’s life-changing decision on her shoulders.

At a point during the movie, she has a brief interaction with a Lebanese fencer played by Eli Jean Tahchi at a nightclub. And while his nationality doesn’t play a big role in the story itself, he takes the opportunity to show her a glimpse of his country’s culture, breaking a few stereotypes she had along the way. Being Lebanese myself, I found this moment to be an incredibly wholesome one that ends perfectly with him playing her a Yasmine Hamdan song.

The movie’s simplicity and straightforward approach are both its strength and its kryptonite. It may not stick with you for a long time or urge you to revisit it down the road, but there’s so much humanity and honesty behind it that I can’t help but recommend it to anyone with a penchant for such films.

FINAL GRADE: 7/10