--- title: "Papillon" year: 1973 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/papillon" fi1m_score: 74 critics_score: 62 critics_reviews: 6 published: "2026-09-16T11:10:00.741303+00:00" updated: "2026-09-16T11:10:11.261439+00:00" region: "US" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Papillon (1973) Directed by Franklin J. Schaffner · 2h 31m · MPA PG · Crime, Drama **Fi1m score: 74** · Critics 62 from 6 reviews *In a sentence:* Prison is miserable, but Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman are unusually good company > Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman make *Papillon* worth its long confinement. The penal colony feels oppressive, and the performances hold us, even when the episodic story and insistent music make an already slow film feel longer. ## Synopsis Henri “Papillon” Charriere (Steve McQueen) is a convict facing the heat, deprivation and cruelty of a penal colony. He wants to escape, but the immediate demands of survival leave little room for anything else. Louis Dega (Dustin Hoffman) brings a calculating temperament to the same surroundings, with Julot (Don Gordon) among the men around them. Henri’s determination and Dega’s cunning offer different responses to confinement. The colony gives its prisoners little relief from hardship, leaving Henri to hold on to the possibility of freedom while working out how to survive among the other men. ## Review *Papillon* is a good prison drama that asks for more patience than it always earns. Franklin J. Schaffner gives confinement time to become oppressive, rather than treating it as the necessary delay before an escape. The cruelty matters because we have to believe that staying put is intolerable. For long stretches, the film makes that plain without losing our interest. Across 151 minutes, however, repetition becomes a problem, and the performances do more to keep us watching than the progress of the story. Steve McQueen plays Henri “Papillon” Charriere with a guarded determination that suits the film’s unhurried pace. His reserve prevents the cruelty from turning every scene into a display of suffering, and gives the character some privacy. The performance holds our attention even when the screenplay offers little new understanding of him. We can follow that stubbornness for a considerable distance, though the film occasionally seems too confident that it will be enough. Dustin Hoffman, as Louis Dega, provides the useful complication. His calculating manner makes a good companion to that stubbornness, suggesting a different way of surviving the same place. We were moved by the scenes they share, because the contrast between Dega’s cunning and Henri’s determination gives us something human to care about amid the punishment. Hoffman allows a little awkwardness into a film inclined towards solemnity, and their work together keeps the prison scenes from becoming an undifferentiated account of suffering. Fred Koenekamp’s cinematography gives the locations space and establishes the colony’s geography clearly. The early impression of heat and deprivation is particularly effective: these surroundings look exhausting before the story needs to insist on their dangers. Anthony Masters’s production design helps make the prison feel like a place organised to wear people down, and the atmosphere remains oppressive even when the film opens out into broader views. Those views help us understand the setting, so the locations do useful work beyond providing a change of scenery. The screenplay by Lorenzo Semple Jr. and Dalton Trumbo is less dependable. Its episodes can feel placed beside one another without enough change in the people passing through them. Further hardship sometimes tells us only what an earlier passage has already established about the prisoners. The occasional surreal touches bring a welcome change, but cannot supply all the missing character detail. This is where the film loses force: the prison remains cruel, but our understanding of the men does not always deepen as the running time increases. Robert Swink’s editing is patient enough to let the prison atmosphere settle, and that is an advantage early on. Later, the measured rhythm gives too much weight to passages that add little beyond further suffering. Jerry Goldsmith’s score can be intrusive, pressing for a response when the cruelty on screen has already made itself felt. Quieter handling would have trusted the actors more, particularly when both leads are so effective at keeping something back. As an escape drama, this spends more time on endurance than on the practical business of getting out. That choice makes confinement feel punishing, but it also explains why admirers of a tighter prison thriller may struggle with it. We would recommend it for the central performances, with a firm warning about the pace. Leave it for an evening when the clock will not be competing for attention. *Fi1m score 74, published 16 September 2026.* ## What the critics say The reviews are divided, with praise strongest for the lead performances and the punishing sense of confinement. Supporters find Steve McQueen’s determination and reserve well matched by Dustin Hoffman’s cunning, giving the prison drama a compelling central partnership. Schaffner’s use of locations also earns approval: the heat, deprivation and cruelty make the penal colony feel oppressive. For the more enthusiastic critics, the stately pace allows that atmosphere to build into a harrowing account of imprisonment. The disagreement centres on whether the length deepens the experience or merely prolongs it. The spread is wide: admirers find scale and distinction, while detractors see repetitive brutality and thin characterisation. Time Out singles out Jerry Goldsmith’s music as intrusive and finds the storytelling unevenly episodic. Variety praises Hoffman but argues that the early atmosphere of despair leaves too little room for development or identification with the characters. ### Reviews we read (6) - **The Times**, Kevin Maher (★★★★☆): The critic praises this epic two-and-a-half-hour prison drama as a standout double act featuring Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman in the true story of convict Henri Charrière. Locations, surreal touches and the lead performances are highlighted as making it an original art-movie spectacular that they don't make anymore. [Read](https://www.thetimes.com/life-style/article/film-review-papillon-1973-wlwvdjzjp) - **Empire**, Ian Nathan (85/100, inferred): The critic praises the film as one of the greatest prison movies, highlighting its grim, vividly cruel depiction of the penal colony and Schaffner's effective use of locations and McQueen's determined lead performance. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/papillon-review/) - **Radio Times**, David Parkinson (4/5): Time has been kind to this adaptation, with Schaffner's stately pace and prison atmosphere creating a harrowing study of confinement. Dustin Hoffman's cunning performance perfectly balances Steve McQueen's enigmatic lead. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-579sba/papillon/) - **The New York Times**, Vincent Canby (50/100, inferred): The critic describes the film as a big, brave, sometimes romantic and silly melodrama with visual sweep and an old-fashioned narrative style that details geography and setting extensively. It notes the escapist quality and mixed feelings about its length and character definition. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/1973/12/17/archives/the-screen-papillonescapist-film-stars-mcqueen-hoffman.html) - **Time Out**, CPe (40/100, inferred): The film starts with strong atmosphere conveying heat and deprivation but becomes unevenly episodic due to Schaffner's lack of perspective. Jerry Goldsmith's music is intrusive and the story turns into a masochistic marathon with perfunctory elements. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/papillon) - **Variety**, Variety Staff (**): The review finds the film an ordeal of despair and brutality over 150 minutes with insufficient character identification, though the script is good within limits and Hoffman excels in his role. It notes the oppressive atmosphere established early leaves little room for development. [Read](https://variety.com/1972/film/reviews/papillon-1200422979/) ## Details - **Director:** Franklin J. Schaffner - **Director:** Franklin J. Schaffner - **Screenplay:** Lorenzo Semple Jr., Dalton Trumbo - **Cinematography:** Fred Koenekamp - **Editor:** Robert Swink - **Music:** Jerry Goldsmith - **Production design:** Anthony Masters - **Costume design:** Anthony Powell - **Producer:** Robert Dorfmann, Franklin J. Schaffner - **Cast:** Steve McQueen as Henri "Papillon" Charriere; Dustin Hoffman as Louis Dega; Victor Jory as Indian Chief; Don Gordon as Julot; Anthony Zerbe as Toussaint; Robert Deman as Maturette; Woodrow Parfrey as Clusiot; Bill Mumy as Lariot - **Runtime:** 2h 31m - **Certificate (MPA):** PG - **Release (the US):** 16 December 1973 - **Genres:** Crime, Drama - **Budget:** $12 million - **Box office:** $53 million ## Where to watch in the US - Tubi: free, hd - The Roku Channel: add-on, hd - Amazon Prime Video: rent $3.99, hd - Amazon Prime Video: buy $9.99, hd *Checked 2026-09-16.* Also available in: AT, AU, BE, ES, FR, GB, IE, IT, NO, NZ, SE, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## Awards - Academy Awards 1974: Best Original Dramatic Score (nominated) ## If you liked this - *A Man Escaped* (1956): Careful observation makes the practical business of escape absorbing and tense. - *The Hill* (1965): Another punishing confinement drama, with authority made frightening through its everyday routines. - *Escape from Alcatraz* (1979): For another guarded leading performance and a tighter focus on escape. - *Kiss of the Spider Woman* (1985), Fi1m 84: A contrasting prison friendship, with more room for tenderness and imagination. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/kiss-of-the-spider-woman.md) - *Hunger* (2008), Fi1m 86: For those willing to face prison cruelty without the comforts of adventure. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/hunger.md) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. 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