Broken Butterfly: A Perfect Shade of Blu - Lilith Likes to Watch
Title: Broken Butterfly: A Perfect Shade of Blu
Year: 2024
Starring: Jewelz Blu, Charlotte Sins, Codey Steele
Director: Jeffrey John Hart
Synopsis: Juliet is a young woman with a new job, a new boyfriend, and a new, dull unfulfilling life. But when her reality begins to fracture around her, she comes face to face with the past she thought she left behind. - Via Letterboxd.com
Lilith's Notes: Nominated for 8 awards and winner of Best Featurette at 2025 AVNs.
"It's time to open the cage."
Creating a compelling psychological thriller in an adult film space seems to be very, very difficult. Not that I’ve watched many, but the ones that I had, I can only point to one, maybe two, that really hit the bulls-eye.
But damned if Broken Butterfly doesn’t try its hardest to be a commendable foray into the ranks of psycho-sexual skin-flicks. It doesn’t succeed, but it tries its dirty heart out.
Juliet (played by Jewelz Blu) is living her normal, every day life. While it’s stable, with a caring boyfriend and a reliable 9 to 5, there’s a certain verve that seems to be missing. She goes to a therapist (played by Casey Calvert) to discuss her feelings, issues and just general malaise.
Juliet realizes that she feels a little trapped, and seeks a sense of freedom, but doesn’t know how that should manifest. Soon, bits of her reality seem to fracture all around her, alluding to some traumatic past and a stint as a sexy, blue-haired cam girl.
Broken Butterfly nabbed 8 XMA award nominations and claimed only one, but it was a valuable one: Best Featurette.
Congratulations, but also, I am confused.
It’s inferred that something traumatic happened to Juliet when she was a cam girl but it’s not elaborated on at all. Was she assaulted by the photographer? Was she stalked? Harassed? I have no idea. But whatever happened to her, her sense of eroticism and appetite for freedom was stronger than the trauma and she yearns to break free. And when she finally does? It’s a party featuring herself, her sexy lady co-worker (played by Charlotte Sins), her boyfriend (played by Codey Steele) and her fresh bottle-blue hair.
I wish we liked this more than we did because so much craft was put into it. We watched a behind the scenes featurette which, frankly, was far more interesting than the actual film. This movie was made with passion and love, like all good art should, and deserves to be.
Everyone on set was present to make something incredibly special.
Just look at the cover art for this movie! Art, and a sexy good time was the intent, that’s undeniable, but somewhere along the way, it missed the mark.
It’s like a reel was missing halfway through the movie. We’re shown Juliet drowning in water, which is an obvious metaphor, clearly, but what is she feeling taken under by? Her job? Her boring boyfriend? Or her salacious past? Sure, it could be all those things, but if it is, that’s not clear. Watching the film, there are big plot points that are just devoid of explanation. Seth Gamble shows up for less than 30 seconds, says something like “I have to explain” and then we never see him again, nor is that encounter ever mentioned.
This could have been right up there with Perspective, Drive, or Stars, and I think it wanted to be, but to have an effective psychodrama, you need a tight story. There’s a difference between a story that makes you think, and a story that just forgets to fill in the gaps.
Still, congratulations on the win, I really do mean it. A flawed product is a flawed product, but that doesn’t mean it’s not deserving of recognition. It can still shine in other ways.
Best Moment: There’s a scene where Juliet is hallucinating all the people in her life telling her to “Come for me”. It was intense and the highlight of the film.
Worst Moment: The unanswered questions. They weren’t even unanswered, because they weren’t even asked!
LILITH'S SCORE: 2.5/5 - We respect the art and effort put into it, and the behind the scenes was fun. They could have splurged a little on the wig budget, and given the script another very thorough pass to make it truly stand with the greats.
Until next time, my voracious voyeurs. I’m Lilith, and I’m always watching.
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