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M. Butterfly (film)
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Wikipedia article
'M. Butterfly' is a 1993 American romantic drama film directed by David Cronenberg. The screenplay was written by David Henry Hwang based on his play of the same name. The film stars Jeremy Irons and John Lone, with Ian Richardson, Barbara Sukowa, and Annabel Leventon.
Plot
Loosely based on true events (see Bernard Boursicot and Shi Pei Pu), the film concerns Ren Gallimard (Jeremy Irons), a French diplomat assigned to Beijing, China, in the 1960s. He becomes infatuated with a Peking opera performer, Song Liling (John Lone), who spies on him for the Government of the People's Republic of China. Their affair lasts for 20 years and they subsequently marry, with Gallimard all the while apparently unaware (or willfully ignorant) of the fact that in Peking opera, 'Dan' roles are traditionally performed by men. At the end of the film Gallimard kills himself (although the man he is based on, Bernard Boursicot, did not do this in real life.)
Cast
* Jeremy Irons as Ren Gallimard
* John Lone as Song Liling
* Ian Richardson as Ambassador Toulon
* Barbara Sukowa as Jeanne Gallimard
* Annabel Leventon as Frau Baden
* Shizuko Hoshi as Comrade Chin
* Vernon Dobtcheff as Agent Entacelin
Themes
One theme of the film (as with the play) is Orientalist stereotypes, but Cronenberg removed many of the political overtones from the story in order to focus more intensely on the relationship between Gallimard and Song. A key line in the film is "Only a man knows how a woman is supposed to act."
Reception
'M. Butterfly' grossed $1,500,000 in the domestic box office.
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 43%, based on 21 reviews, and an average rating of 5.60/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "David Cronenberg reins in his provocative sensibility and handles delicate material with restraint, yielding a disappointing adaptation that flattens 'M. Butterfly' into a tedious soap opera." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 43 out of 100, based on 19 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".
See also
* 'M. Butterfly'
* Cross-dressing in film and television
References
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