Black butterflies on Arte: is the series inspired by a true story?

The black butterflies, the new series of Arte, is already announced as the fictional event of this return. Created by Olivier Abbou and Bruno Merle, this addictive thriller follows Adrien (Nicolas Duvauchelle), a writer lacking in inspiration, who is hired by a mysterious retiree, Albert (Niels Arestrup), to write his memoirs.

But as the man tells him about his passionate love affair with Solange, Adrien discovers that he is actually dealing with a couple of serial killers who raged every summer across France in the 1970s.

At a time when adaptations of miscellaneous facts are aplenty in the audiovisual landscape, the murderous odyssey in which the duo encamped by Axel Granberger and Alyzée Costes is engaged has not, in reality, been inspired by a true story.

The two creators have indeed explained, during a press briefing organized by Arte, that the characters of Solange and Albert are not based on serial killers who really existed. “The idea was to create a romantic story“, they explained.

“So, no, their story is not inspired by a true story. But it is obvious that couples of serial killers, there have been many. There were some very real stories. We obviously did our job by reading what we had to read, and by watching the few films that dealt with the subject. But there is no specific case that inspired us to write this story..”

Olivier Abbou and Bruno Merle have also confided that what particularly interests them in the history of serial killers is the sometimes ambiguous role that women may have played in some of the murders. “They are rarely condemned because she hardly takes action. They therefore have a very ambiguous consenting victim role which was interesting to explore.”

Find the first three episodes of Les Papillons Noirs this Thursday, September 22 from 8:55 p.m. on Arte. The entire series is already available on Arte.tv.