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M. Butterfly

Play trailer Poster for M. Butterfly R 1993 1h 40m Drama Romance Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
38% Tomatometer 21 Reviews 67% Popcornmeter 5,000+ Ratings
René Gallimard is a diplomat from France who has been sent to Beijing. While acclimating to life in China, Gallimard meets and becomes enamored of Song Liling, an opera singer who wears traditionally ornate dress and makeup. The two begin a relationship, but, unfortunately for Gallimard, there is much about Song that he doesn't know. Among the revelations that Gallimard must contend with is the discovery that his lover is a man.
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M. Butterfly

M. Butterfly

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Critics Consensus

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.

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Critics Reviews

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David Ansen Newsweek Oct 18, 2008
The problem is not simply that Lone's drag wouldn't fool a baby. In the magnified intimacy of the camera's eye, it's clear Hwang doesn't really know who these unlikely lovers are. Metaphors can't carry a movie-flesh and blood is what's required. Go to Full Review
Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times Jan 1, 2000
2.5/4
All of this is interesting, in its way, and yet the film of M. Butterfly does not take hold the way the stage play did. Go to Full Review
Joe Lipsett Anatomy of a Scream Podcast Network May 16, 2024
2.5/5
Jeremy Irons and John Lone are both doing great work, but the film's reticence to engage with its gender, queer, and even political themes is frustrating. The film is a bad marriage of director and material. Go to Full Review
Steve Warren Southern Voice (Atlanta) May 9, 2023
On stage, M. Butterfly was quite possibly the best drama since Equus. On screen, it's an embarrassment and a bore. Go to Full Review
Malcolm L. Johnson Hartford Courant Apr 16, 2018
On screen, under the caring but superficial direction of David Cronenberg, the realism of the camera cruelly exposes all the pretenses of this play about a French diplomat who loves a man posing as a woman. Go to Full Review
Paul Brenner Filmcritic.com May 17, 2009
1.5/5
When John Lone parades around in mascara and speaks in an asexual monotone, the film audience discovers itself staring at John Lone's whiskers underneath his makeup Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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Alec B @Alec97 Feb 21, 2024 It is fair to say that something is perhaps lost in translation from the stage to the screen (intimacy for one) but I think there's a lot of criticism directed at the movie in bad faith. Post The Crying Game the "twist" doesn't make much sense as a major plot point and Cronenberg goes the more difficult and interesting route of having the characters subtly acknowledging the truth. See more
Timur B @woundalism Nov 11, 2023 ok. the story is good. theatre in theatre. See more
David W @RT91245001 Oct 31, 2023 Cronenberg manages to deliver a lot with the resources and material he had to work with. The story is memorable mostly for its strangeness. I would only watch this again if there were nothing better to choose from. See more
Joel G @RT44654526 May 27, 2023 having just watched the film, i am trying to understand what it's actually about and why the characters are both blind and deaf to the world they've been dumped in. the first time that gallimard sees that his butterfly is a man in a suit, it's so without expression or reaction, and the scene that follows between the two is baffling, as though the lack of clarity is added to by the lack of insight in the writing. i'd be very eager to hear from hwang what went wrong, what he may have imagined that didn't make it into the final cut. See more
thiago r @FlashTommy96 Nov 6, 2022 Final extremamente surpreendente. Não esperava nem de longe um plot daquele. See more
Jul 27, 2022 The greatest 01 hour: and 40 minutes ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! See more
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M. Butterfly

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Cast & Crew

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David Cronenberg

Director

Jeremy Irons

René Gallimard

John Lone

Song Liling

Ian Richardson

Ambassador Toulon

Barbara Sukowa

Jeanne Gallimard

Annabel Leventon

Frau Baden

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M. Butterfly

M. Butterfly (1993) View more photos

Movie Info

Synopsis René Gallimard is a diplomat from France who has been sent to Beijing. While acclimating to life in China, Gallimard meets and becomes enamored of Song Liling, an opera singer who wears traditionally ornate dress and makeup. The two begin a relationship, but, unfortunately for Gallimard, there is much about Song that he doesn't know. Among the revelations that Gallimard must contend with is the discovery that his lover is a man.
Director
David Cronenberg
Producer
Gabriella Martinelli
Screenwriter
David Henry Hwang
Production Co
Geffen Pictures, Miranda Productions Inc.
Rating
R
Genre
Drama, Romance
Original Language
English
Release Date (Streaming)
Apr 29, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA)
$1.0M
Runtime
1h 40m
Sound Mix
Surround, Stereo
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