Editorial Product Review:Amazon.com essential video:Jeremy Irons gives another superb and underrated performance in
M Butterfly, an elegant adaptation of the Broadway hit by playwright David Henry Hwang. Irons plays a French diplomat in China in 1964 who falls in love with a star of the Beijing Opera, not realizing that the entrancing performer holds secrets that will ruin his life--that the singer is a spy for the Communist government is only the beginning of the diplomat's troubles. Though
M Butterfly may seem like a departure for director David Cronenberg (best known for horror and science fiction flicks like
The Fly and
Scanners), the themes of desire and self-deception fit comfortably into his oeuvre, alongside his adaptations of difficult novels like
Naked Lunch and
Crash.
M Butterfly, like the more popular movie
The Crying Game, is a cunning examination of love and denial. Also featuring John Lone (
The Last Emperor).
--Bret Fetzer
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Buyer Reviews
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M. Butterfly
If you're looking for a Book turned into a movie--this is it but in a very obscure fashion. This movie takes the stereotypes that Long writes about in his short novel and basically flips them around here. Here you have the American man, but it is he that is hopelessly inlove with the Asian "woman" (using that term lightly). She is the one that is full of decite and ends up betraying him. At the end, he has to realize that he, not only was abdoned and betrayed, but it was by a man. This movie had great twists and turns and also and was definetly an attention keeper.
Customer Rating: -
A suprising romance
M Butterfly tells the story of a French American Diplomat, Rene Gallimard, who falls in love with Chinese opera singer, Song Liling. Unbeknownst to Gallimard, Song Liling is a Chinese informant gathering information of American troop movement in Vietnam. Song Liling has an even deeper secret she is hiding from Gallimard, her true identity as a man. Despite Lilings love for Gallimard, he testifies against him and Gallimard ends up in jail. While heartbroken and still in love with a lie, Gallimard commits suicide. From start to finish, this movie is full of surprises. Although there are subtle hints regarding Liling's true identity I was never really prepared for its revelation. M Butterfly is a tragic story of one man who loses everything because his love of a lie. Although a bit disturbing, M Butterfly is a movie worth watching.
Customer Rating: 
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Imperalists Fantasy
The movie M.Butterfly directed by David Cronenburg is based on a true life story about the French diplomat Rene Gallimard( Jeremy Irons)who falls in love with a Chinese opera singer named Song LiLing in Beijing in the 1960's. Gallimard is very fascinated with the opera singer and they soon begin a long passionate love affair. Gallimard plays this experienced man of the world yet so clumsy and love struck, as he manage to miss a very big detail about his lover. The character in the movie,Gallimard is very apprehensive and an idealist, but the actor Jeremy Irons plays the role outstandingly good. Gallimard will soon realize Song LiLing is not as shy and innocent as she might seem. Song LiLing is blackmailed by the Chinese government to obtain political information from Gallimard, thats when he gets drawn into trouble with his lover. Only in the very end of the movie Gallimard discovers his lover's best kept secrets.Its many moments in the movie when Chinese atmosphere comes alive and the cinematography is good. This movie seems like a normal love story until it takes a drastic turn and make you start thinking of the whole movie more into detail. There is a lot to digest in this scandalous love story that turns into a horror story. The screen play in this movie is from David Henry Hwang's opera play that he deconstructed from John Luther Longs version of Madame Butterfly. This movie is well worth seen, it keeps your brain working, no doubt.
Customer Rating: -
Shocked and Amazed
SPOILER ALERT**
Cronenberg's movie M. Butterfly is full of unexpected twists and turns. The French-American diplomat Rene Gallimard has fallen for a Chinese Opera singer. They embark n a lusty affair that ends in an unprecedented event. Song Liling, the Opera singer, is betraying Rene in more ways then one. She is using him to gain information on American troops in Vietnam. He has no idea that she is using him and he has no idea that she is actually a HE. When Rene ends up in prison, he uses a Madame Butterfly backdrop to commit suicide. This movie was well acted and directed. There were many subtle hints to Liling's masculinity, but there was nothing too bold as to give away the climax. This movie is a surprising take on Madama Butterfly that will linger in mind as a very different and intrguing drama.