It tells the story of French convict Henri Charrière (Charlie Hunnam), nicknamed Papillon ("butterfly"), who was falsely imprisoned in 1933 in the notorious Devil's Island penal colony and escaped in 1941 with the help of another convict, counterfeiter Louis Dega (Rami Malek).

[2] Papillon premiered on September 9, 2017, in the Special Presentations section at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival.

Though he has an alibi from his lover, Nenette, Papillon is convicted and condemned to the notorious Devil's Island penal colony in French Guiana — a hellish prison from which nobody has escaped.

That evening Dega is awakened as two convicts murder a prisoner sleeping next to him in order to cut open his stomach and steal the money he had swallowed.

Celier has a connection to get a boat, and the sexually abused Maturette is the fourth to join the dangerous venture.

The Colombian authorities arrive, kill Maturette, and return Papillon to Royal Island, where he is subjected to five years in solitary confinement.

Papillon is released from solitary as a weathered older man and sent to Devil's Island, where the high cliffs provide a natural barrier for escape attempts.

The movie postscript reads: "Over 80,000 prisoners were condemned to the penal colony in French Guiana, most of whom never returned to France.

The website's critical consensus reads, "Papillon puts its own well-acted, solidly produced spin on a previously adapted tale, although it suffers in comparison to the 1973 version.