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''Leptirica'' ( sr-Cyrl, Лептирица, lit=The She-Butterfly) is a 1973 Yugoslav
made-for-TV A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie, telefilm, telemovie or TV film/movie, is a film with a running time similar to a feature film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a terrestr ...
folk horror Folk horror is a subgenre of horror film and horror fiction that uses elements of folklore to invoke fear and foreboding. Typical elements include a rural setting, isolation, and themes of superstition, folk religion, paganism, Human sacrifice, sa ...
film directed by the
Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...
n and Yugoslav director Đorđe Kadijević and based on the
short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction. It can typically be read in a single sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the old ...
''After Ninety Years'' (1880) written by Serbian writer
Milovan Glišić Milovan Glišić (6 January 1847 – 20 January 1908) was a Serbian writer, novelist, dramatist, translator, and literary theorist. He is sometimes referred to as ''the Serbian Gogol''. Legacy Glišić is considered to be one of the best ...
. Although not being the first Yugoslav film with horror elements, ''Leptirica'' is often described as "the first real horror" made in Serbia and Yugoslavia, cited as the pioneering work of the genre in Serbian and
Yugoslav cinema The Cinema of Yugoslavia refers to the film industry and cinematic output of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, which existed from 1945 until it disintegrated into several independent nations in the early 1990s. Yugoslavia was ...
and proclaimed one of the top Serbian and Yugoslav horror films by critics and audience alike.


Plot

Grumpy landowner Živan visits a
watermill A watermill or water mill is a mill that uses hydropower. It is a structure that uses a water wheel or water turbine to drive a mechanical process such as mill (grinding), milling (grinding), rolling, or hammering. Such processes are needed in ...
on the edge of the forest, bringing
wheat Wheat is a group of wild and crop domestication, domesticated Poaceae, grasses of the genus ''Triticum'' (). They are Agriculture, cultivated for their cereal grains, which are staple foods around the world. Well-known Taxonomy of wheat, whe ...
to be milled into
flour Flour is a powder made by Mill (grinding), grinding raw grains, List of root vegetables, roots, beans, Nut (fruit), nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods. Cereal flour, particularly wheat flour, is the main ingredie ...
. While he converses with the
miller A miller is a person who operates a mill, a machine to grind a grain (for example corn or wheat) to make flour. Milling is among the oldest of human occupations. "Miller", "Milne" and other variants are common surnames, as are their equivalents ...
Vule, strange sounds are heard outside the mill, Vule believing they are coming from some bird. The two spot Živan's daughter Radojka on the hill with her sheep and Vule comments how beautiful she is, stating that she looks "like a she-butterfly". During the night, Vule once again hears strange sounds coming from the woods. While he sleeps, a millstone suddenly stops working and a strange human-like creature with black hands, hairy face and long teeth enters the mill. It grabs a handful of flour, and after inspecting it, attacks Vule and kills him by biting his neck. The millstone is seen starting to turn again. Vule's body is discovered the following morning by one of the peasants from the nearby village of Zarožje, who runs off in horror and informs the village mayor about his discovery. The film turns to a romance between Radojka and a poor young man named Strahinja. The two meet seecretly, as Živan refuses to approve their relationship. In the meanwhile, the mayor of the neighboring Zarožje, the village priest and several villagers discuss the death of their miller. It is revealed that Vule is the fourth miller to be killed in the mill over the course of one year, and the villagers suspect that the men were killed by a known
vampire A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the Vitalism, vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead, undead humanoid creatures that often visited loved ones and c ...
called Sava Savanović. Strahinja approaches Živan, asking for Radojka's hand in marriage, but Živan banishes him from his yard. Disappointed, Strahinja bids farewell to Radojka and leaves his village. While passing through Zarožje, he meets the villagers discussing the cursed mill and accepts their offer to become the new miller. He spends the night in the mill, but stays in the mill's attic. Horrified by the vampire's visit, he falls from the attic into bags of flour, but survives the night. In the morning, the villagers visit the mill and find Strahinja alive. He tells them that he saw the creature, and the villagers are now convinced it was Sava Savanović, who died decades ago. The villagers visit the oldest woman in a neighboring village to ask her if she knows anything about Sava Savanović. She reveals to them that Sava was buried in a crooked ravine under a crooked elm tree. After unsuccessfully attempting to find Sava's grave, villagers decide to use an old way of tracking down a vampire's grave, by guiding a black
stallion A stallion is an adult male horse that has not been gelded ( castrated). Stallions follow the conformation and phenotype of their breed, but within that standard, the presence of hormones such as testosterone may give stallions a thicker, "cre ...
through the area. They realize Živan is the only man in the region to own a black stallion, so Zarožje mayor goes off to borrow it. Mayor asks Živan why he refused to approve of Radojka's and Strahinja's marriage, but Živan stands firm in his decision. Radojka hears the birdlike sounds and follows them into the forest. She is shown lying on the ground sleeping, waking up with a smile on her lips. Strahinja and Zarožje villagers take the stallion through a ravine, and the horse reveals the location of the grave. They start digging and find a coffin. While the priest reads a prayer, they nail a hawthorn stake through the coffin and attempt to pour holy water into the hole. However, a white butterfly escapes out of the hole. The villagers do not manage to catch it, but are nevertheless satisfied as they believe they killed the vampire. During the celebration in the village, they promise Strahinja to help him. In the evening, they take Radojka away from her home and bring her to Zarožje, escaping infuriated Živan. The whole village welcomes the couple and the villagers start to prepare the wedding. In accordance with an old custom, an old woman is tasked with guarding the house in which the bride-to-be is staying, in order to prevent the couple from consummating their relationship before marriage. However, Radojka accepts Strahinja's offer to visit her during the night. As the sun is setting down, the strange sounds are heard once again. The old woman guarding the girl falls asleep, and Strahinja manages to sneak by her. As he undresses sleeping Radojka, he discovers a bloody hole under her breasts. Radojka opens her eyes and transforms into a hairy creature with sharp teeth. She jumps onto Strahinja's back and leads him to Sava's grave, where she forces him to remove the stake out of the coffin. While he does so, she collapses on the ground. The coffin opens, and a doppelganger of Radojka in her vampiric form climbs out of it, with the same stake-made wound between her breasts. While she climbs out of the hole, Strahinja manages to impale her with the stake. The villagers wake up after a night of celebrating. Realizing that Strahinja sneaked into Radojka's room, they joke and laugh, unaware that the couple is not in the house. Strahinja is shown lying motionlessly on the ground with a butterfly in his hair moving its wings.


Cast

* as Radojka * Petar Božović as Strahinja *
Slobodan Perović Slobodan Perović ( sr-cyr, Слободан Перовић; 6 May 1926 – 2 May 1978) was a Serbian actor. He appeared in more than seventy films from 1955 to 1978. Selected filmography References External links * 1926 births 1 ...
as Živan * as the village mayor * as the priest * as Purko, a peasant * as Sredoje, a peasant * as Ćebo, a peasant * as a peasant * as Vule the miller


Production

In a 2023 interview, Kadijević stated that in the early 1970s he was forced to turn away from cinema and venture into directing for television, as he had been a prominent figure of the
Yugoslav Black Wave Yugoslav Black Wave (also referred to as Black Wave; or sh-Latn-Cyrl, label=none, separator=" / ", Crni talas, Црни талас) is a blanket term for a Yugoslav film and broader cultural movement starting from the early 1960s and ending in ...
movement and the authorities' censorship in cinema was starting to strengthen: The movie was filmed in the village of Zelinje, near the river
Drina The Drina ( sr-Cyrl, Дрина, ) is a long river in the Balkans, which forms a large portion of the border between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. It is the longest tributary of the Sava River and the longest karst river in the Dinaric Al ...
, close to the city of
Zvornik Zvornik ( sr-cyrl, Зворник, ) is a city in Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina. In 2013, it had a population of 58,856 inhabitants. Zvornik is located on the Drina River, on the eastern slopes of Majevica mountain, at the altitude of ...
. The 19th century mill that appears in the movie is still in its original location. The film was made in less than a month. Kadijević found the strange sounds that can be heard throughout the film with the help of the workers of Television Belgrade musical department. The sounds used were the recordings of a species of birds which lives in the uninhabited areas of
India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
.


Deviations from Milovan Glišić's short story

While in the film the villagers conclude the millers were killed by the vampire Sava Savanović, in the story it is Strahinja who discovers that the creature killing the millers is a vampire and manages to discover its name. He drags a timber into the mill and covers it with a blanket, making it seem like a lying person, and hides in the attic with two rifles. After the vampire enters the mill, he grabs a handful of flour, inspects it and sits by the fire. After some time he jumps on the timber believing it is the sleeping miller. Realizing that he was tricked, the vampire shouts: "Hey, Sava Savanović, after ninety years of being a vampire, never have you remained dinnerless the way you did tonight!" Strahinja fires his rifles, forcing Sava to scream and disappear. While in the film the villagers nail the stake through the coffin without opening it, in the story they open it and spot two rifle wounds on the vampire's chest that are almost healed. While in the film the vampire(ss) is depicted as a hairy, dark-skinned creature, in the story Sava Savanović is described as a "rather tall man with a blood-red face" and "a linen cloak across his shoulders, falling down his back to his heels". When the villagers open the coffin, they find Sava's body preserved "as if laid there yesterday", with blood-red skin and "stuffed like a turkey". In the original story, the narrator explains that the butterfly escaping from Sava's body "could not harm grown people" and that it "had been taking life of children from Zarožje and Ovčina long time before it disappeared". The most prominent difference between the story and the film is that in the story Radojka does not turn into a vampire. After Sava Savanović is killed and Strahinja and Radojka are wed, the celebration is visited by Živan, who, realizing he has no other choice, makes peace with the couple and the Zarožje villagers, and the newlyweds return to their homevillage.


Reception, influence and legacy

Upon its release, the film received large attention by the Yugoslav public. The reactions of the film critics were mixed: part of them praised the film and compared it to the best works of horror in world cinema, while the other part criticized the director's and TV Belgrade's intention to scare the audience, large part of which was still traumatized by events of World War II. ''Leptirica'' was not the first Yugoslav film with horror elements. It was preceded by two films, both also directed by Kadijević for Television Belgrade, '' Darovi moje rođake Marije'' (''The Gifts of My Cousin Maria'', 1969) and '' Štićenik'' (''Ward'', 1973), the first inspired by a story by Serbian writer Momčilo Nastasijević and the latter based on a story by Serbian writer
Filip David Filip David ( sr-cyr, Филип Давид; 4 July 1940 – 14 April 2025) was a Serbian writer and screenwriter, best known for penning essays, dramas, short stories and novels. In 1987, he was awarded the Andrić Prize for his short story coll ...
. However, as Serbian writer and film and literary critic Dejan Ognjanović stated: "Those two early films are known today only to the biggest film lovers. At the time, the audience didn't perceive them as horror films: on the contrary, the records reveal that the audience viewed them as boring and incomprehensible. ''The Gifts of My Cousin Maria'' is basically a dreary TV drama, which can be viewed as a horror film in retrospective, as a part of Kadijević's poetics and as a part of studies of horror motifs in our cinema. ''Ward'' too was an uncommunicative
art film An art film, arthouse film, or specialty film is an independent film aimed at a niche market rather than a mass market audience. It is "intended to be a serious, artistic work, often experimental and not designed for mass appeal", "made prima ...
." Thus, ''Leptirica'' is often viewed as "the first real horror film" in the history of Serbian and Yugoslav cinema. Ognjanović and screenwriter Aleksadar Radivojević both regretfully stated that ''Leptirica'', although a pioneering work of Serbian and Yugoslav horror film, had little influence on Serbian and Yugoslav cinema in that the film's popularity did not result in horror genre gaining more acceptance among Serbian and Yugoslav filmmakers. Radivojević stated: "''Leptirica'' did not influence our cinema much, because our cinema stands stubbornly firm in its artistic approach and defends itself from the horror genre, seeing it as something allegedly less serious, less potent and artistically less valuable." Both of them, however, agree that ''Leptirica'' made a lasting impression on the Yugoslav audience. The fact that it was the first Yugoslav film of its kind made ''Leptirica'' widely remembered as "the scariest film ever" by a number of people across former Yugoslavia. After the film was first aired, there were numerous rumors across Yugoslavia about people dying of heart attack while watching the film, but none of them was ever confirmed.
Robert Eggers Robert Houston Eggers (born July 7, 1983) is an American filmmaker who has written and directed '' The Witch'' (2015), '' The Lighthouse'' (2019), '' The Northman'' (2022), and ''Nosferatu'' (2024). His films blend elements of horror, folklore, ...
credited ''Leptirica'' as one of the films that influenced his adaptation of ''
Nosferatu ''Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror'' () is a 1922 silent film, silent German Expressionism (cinema), German Expressionist vampire film directed by F. W. Murnau from a screenplay by Henrik Galeen. It stars Max Schreck as Count Orlok, a vampire who ...
''. He included the film in "Conjuring ''Nosferatu'': Robert Eggers Presents", a nine-film program taking place at
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
's
Film at Lincoln Center Film at Lincoln Center (FLC), previously known as the Film Society of Lincoln Center (FSLC) until 2019,Aridi, Sara (April 28, 2019).. ''The New York Times''. nytimes.com. Retrieved April 29, 2019. is a nonprofit organization based in New York Cit ...
from 5 to 9 February 2025. In a press statement, Eggers called ''Leptirica'' "visually naïve and yet terrifying". Kadijević stated on several occasions that he had never considered ''Leptirica'' a horror film, and that he had never been interested in horror as a genre. He stated that he viewed ''Leptirica'' as a
fantasy film Fantasy films are films that belong to the fantasy genre with fantastic themes, usually Magic (paranormal), magic, supernatural events, mythology, folklore, or exotic fantasy worlds. The Film genre, genre is considered a form of speculative fic ...
dealing with the presence of metaphysical evil in the human conscience.


See also

*
Cinema of Serbia The Cinema of Serbia refers to the film industry and films made in Serbia or by Serbian filmmakers. Serbia (both as an independent state and as part of Yugoslavia) has been home to many internationally acclaimed films and directors. Many of t ...
* Cinema of Yugoslavia *
List of films based on Slavic mythology This is a list of films based on Slavic mythology. See also * List of films based on Germanic mythology * List of films based on Greco-Roman mythology {{DEFAULTSORT:Films based on Slavic mythology Slavic mythology Slavic paganism, Slav ...
*
Vampire film Vampire films have been a staple in world cinema since the era of silent films, so much so that the depiction of vampires in popular culture is strongly based upon their depiction in films throughout the years. The most popular cinematic adaptat ...


References


External links


''Leptirica'' (full film)
on
Radio Television of Serbia The Serbian Broadcasting Corporation, more commonly referred to as Radio Television of Serbia (), or RTS (), is the state-owned public radio and television broadcaster of Serbia. RTS has four organizational units – radio, television, music pro ...
Culture and Arts Program official
YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
channel * * {{Rotten tomatoes, the_she_butterfly 1973 television films 1973 horror films Serbian horror films Yugoslav horror films Serbian fantasy films Yugoslav fantasy films Serbian television films Folk horror films Films based on Slavic mythology Vampire films Films directed by Đorđe Kadijević 1970s Serbian-language films Films set in Serbia Films shot in Bosnia and Herzegovina