Rating: R
Genres:
Spy Film
Action
Drama
Release Date: 05/26/2009
SubTitles: English/French
Dubbed: English
Sound: DDS2.0
Run Time: 101 min
Flags: Violence, Nudity, Adult Situations, Strong Sexual Content, Not For Children, Profanity
Distributor/Studio: Warner Home Video
David Cronenberg's cinematic intensity eviscerates this adaptation of
David Henry Hwang's passionate stage production. Based on a true incident involving a French diplomat who carried on an affair for 18 years with a man the diplomat thought was a woman,
M. Butterfly begins in 1964 Beijing when French foreign service employee
Rene Gallimard (
Jeremy Irons) becomes smitten with Chinese
opera performer
Song Liling (
John Lone). Before long,
Gallimard is enamored with
Song, and they begin an inflamed affair -- bracketed by the stipulation that
Gallimard will never be allowed to look upon her in a state of complete undress.
Gallimard agrees to the rules, but, as he climbs up the diplomatic ladder, the communist government gets involved, corralling
Song to become an informer for the government. When, at last,
Gallimard's passion demands nudity,
Song flees the relationship.
Gallimard, pining for his lost love, then becomes a physical and mental wreck. He leaves China and accepts a two-bit diplomatic position, but then
Song appears once again to
Gallimard. At that point,
Gallimard is arrested and, during the subsequent sensational trial for treason, his affair is exposed for the sham that it is.
~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
;)
