Review of M. Butterfly (1993) by Dfw F — 28 Feb 2010

During the Cultural Revolution in China in the mid-1960s, a French diplomat falls in love with a singer in the Beijing Opera. Interwoven with allusions to the Puccini opera "Madama Butterfly", a story of love and betrayal unfolds.

6.7 rating on IMDB 3700 people rating. I have been watching the movies of David Cronenberg--considered a cold emotionless director ( Some what true but I basically disagree) He has made some of the most emotionally devastating films Iâ??ve ever seen, from the romantic tragedy of The Fly to the human wreckage of Crash & Spider & the heartbreaking Dead Ringers. He has an ability to touch the emotions & still be intellectual which makes him stand out among contemporary directors. Similar to David Lynch he is particularly good on the subject of one personâ??s desperate need for something or someone & their yearning for requited love, meaning, redemption or some other kind of closure. Covering almost twenty years in the life of a tawdry French diplomat (Jeremy Irons), the story of M. Butterfly seems to depict the lengths to which people will maintain their delusions to stay happy. After seeing a lead performer (John Lone) in Pucciniâ??s Madame Butterfly, the diplomat falls in love with the star singer. Though the object of his love is cross-dressing actor, the diplomat seems oblivious to the truth and begins an affair of some chasteness for years in China. When the Communist Cultural Revolution separates the would-be lovers, the actress Song is sent off to prison and the diplomat is recalled to France. When they re-connect years later at Songâ??s urging, the Irons character may be the victim of a spy plot to gain sensitive information for the Communist government and Song may be the key manipulator. The issue for the lovers is how much each knows about the otherâ??and how much each keeps secret from the other (if anything). Film is Cronenbergâ??s least-known & most underrated work, far superior to his great cult hit- Scanners. However the film is not as successful as the Broadway play--the film is never truly convincing. The film moves away from the play's stylistic elements, then works better as a fascinatingly cold-blooded assessment of love. Intense as Gallimard's longing is, it emerges more & more clearly as a product of his imagination as the story moves on. Inspired by the true story of a French diplomat in China during the 1960s who conducted an 18-year affair with a native man he always thought was a woman & who was later convicted of espionage, Film worked onstage because the plot device worked due to the distance created by the theatrical setting so the audience could accept the rather far-fetched premise. Cinematography is breath taking in China & other parts of Asia. The film is idiosyncratic as Mr. Cronenberg's work always is. However I do not PAN this film like all the other reviewers in fact though the film is slow I enjoyed this film. (You can also enjoy if you suspend your beliefs for 2 hours).