# Black Butterflies (2022)

> A gloomy novelist, stuck on his next book, agrees to ghostwrite a dying man's memoir and is pulled into a bloodstained past.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/130601

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 6
- Episode runtime: 50 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: crime, drama, mystery
- Created by: Olivier Abbou, Bruno Merle
- Network: ARTE
- Cast: Nicolas Duvauchelle, Niels Arestrup, Axel Granberger, Alyzée Costes, Brigitte Catillon, Marie Denarnaud, Lola Créton, Henny Reents
- TMDB rating: 7.5/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14485734/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: strong
- Complexity: layered
- Violence: moderate
- Tone: gloomy, brooding, melancholic, tense, morally murky

## What critics say

Audience reception is positive, with viewers rating the six-episode miniseries well for its gloomy atmosphere and layered mystery.

## Synopsis

Black Butterflies (2022) is a French crime drama miniseries created by Olivier Abbou and Bruno Merle for ARTE. Across six fifty-minute episodes, gloomy novelist Adrien (Nicolas Duvauchelle) stalls on his second book and agrees to ghostwrite a memoir for a dying man, Albert Desiderio (Niels Arestrup). What begins as a routine writing commission slowly draws Adrien into a criminal past that the old man's recollections reveal, with the investigation unfolding through the interplay of memory, confession, and the shadows of a serial killer case. Alyzée Costes, Brigitte Catillon, and Sami Bouajila anchor the wider web of secrets. The series is a single continuing story, a limited run that builds tension through dialogue-driven scenes, flashbacks, and an uneasy relationship between writer and subject. Its tone is brooding, morally murky, and melancholic, closer to French literary thrillers than to procedurals. Fans of Dexter, The Killing, and Mindhunter will find a similar appetite for dark, character-driven crime. Set in present-day France, it explores guilt, creative paralysis, and the cost of uncovering the truth.

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