MOVIEmeter
SEE RANK
Down 1,139 this week

M. Butterfly (1993)

 -  Drama | Romance  -  1 October 1993 (USA)
6.7
Your rating:
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 -/10 X  
Ratings: 6.7/10 from 4,844 users   Metascore: 43/100
Reviews: 38 user | 25 critic | 19 from Metacritic.com

In 1960s China, French diplomat Rene Gallimard falls in love with an opera singer, Song Liling - but Song is not at all who Gallimard thinks.

Director:

Writers:

(play), (screenplay)
0Check in
0Share...

User Lists

Related lists from IMDb users

a list of 10000 titles created 2 months ago
 
a list of 258 titles created 16 Apr 2011
 
a list of 5264 titles created 4 months ago
 
a list of 17 titles created 4 months ago
 
a list of 1097 titles created 11 months ago
 

Connect with IMDb


Share this Rating

Title: M. Butterfly (1993)

M. Butterfly (1993) on IMDb 6.7/10

Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below.

Take The Quiz!

Test your knowledge of M. Butterfly.
1 win. See more awards »

Videos

Photos

Learn more

People who liked this also liked... 

Drama | Romance
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.1/10 X  

A young Parisian woman begins a sordid affair with a middle-aged American businessman who lays out ground rules that their clandestine relationship will be based only on sex.

Director: Bernardo Bertolucci
Stars: Marlon Brando, Maria Schneider, Maria Michi
Drama | Romance
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.6/10 X  

Rich and bored aristocrats in Rococo France play high-stakes games of passion and betrayal.

Director: Stephen Frears
Stars: Glenn Close, John Malkovich, Michelle Pfeiffer
Drama | Romance
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7/10 X  

Two best friends living on the streets of Portland as hustlers embark on a journey of self discovery and find their relationship stumbling along the way.

Director: Gus Van Sant
Stars: River Phoenix, Keanu Reeves, James Russo
The Piano (1993)
Drama | Romance
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.5/10 X  

A mute woman along with her young daughter, and her prized piano, are sent to 1850s New Zealand for an arranged marriage to a wealthy landowner, and she's soon lusted after by a local worker on the plantation.

Director: Jane Campion
Stars: Holly Hunter, Harvey Keitel, Sam Neill
Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.8/10 X  

A fading movie star with a sense of emptiness, and a neglected young wife meet as strangers in Tokyo and form an unlikely bond.

Director: Sofia Coppola
Stars: Scarlett Johansson, Bill Murray, Giovanni Ribisi
Drama | Romance
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.3/10 X  

The tragic story of an ecologist fighter against the pollution the oil industry generates in the south of México; his relationship with the daughter of a Russian immigrant generates the ... See full summary »

Director: Sergio Olhovich
Stars: Jorge Sanz, Arcelia Ramírez, Pyotr Velyaminov
Damage (1992)
Drama | Romance
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.7/10 X  

A member of Parliament falls passionately in love with his son's fiancée despite the dangers of discovery.

Director: Louis Malle
Stars: Jeremy Irons, Juliette Binoche, Miranda Richardson
Drama | Romance
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.4/10 X  

Photographer Robert Kincaid wanders into the life of housewife Francesca Johnson, for four days in the 1960s.

Director: Clint Eastwood
Stars: Clint Eastwood, Meryl Streep, Annie Corley
Drama | Romance
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.2/10 X  

Tale of 19th century New York high society in which a young lawyer falls in love with a woman separated from her husband, while he is engaged to the woman's cousin.

Director: Martin Scorsese
Stars: Daniel Day-Lewis, Michelle Pfeiffer, Winona Ryder
Lolita (1997)
Drama | Romance
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.7/10 X  

A man marries his landlady so he can take advantage of her daughter.

Director: Adrian Lyne
Stars: Jeremy Irons, Melanie Griffith, Frank Langella
Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 5.5/10 X  

A married woman agrees to have sex with another man for $1,000,000.

Director: Adrian Lyne
Stars: Robert Redford, Demi Moore, Woody Harrelson
Drama | Romance
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 5.5/10 X  

Two-guys-one-girl thing in a squatted house in Geneva.

Director: Romed Wyder
Stars: Vincent Coppey, Alexandra Tiedemann, Pietro Musillo
Edit

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
...
...
...
...
Annabel Leventon ...
Shizuko Hoshi ...
Richard McMillan ...
Embassy Colleague
...
David Hemblen ...
Intelligence Officer #1
Damir Andrei ...
Intelligence Officer #2
Antony Parr ...
Intelligence Officer #3
Margaret Ma ...
Song's Maid
Tristram Jellinek ...
Defense Attorney
Philip McGough ...
Prosecution Attorney
David Neal ...
Judge
Edit

Storyline

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. Written by Michael C. Berch <mcb@postmodern.com>

Plot Summary | Plot Synopsis

Plot Keywords:

opera | china | betrayal | 1960s | spy | See more »

Genres:

Drama | Romance

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for sexuality and a brief bloody sequence | See all certifications »

Parents Guide:

 »
Edit

Details

Country:

Language:

Release Date:

1 October 1993 (USA)  »

Also Known As:

M. Baterflaj  »

Filming Locations:

 »

Box Office

Gross:

$1,499,795 (USA)
 »

Company Credits

Show detailed on  »

Technical Specs

Runtime:

Sound Mix:

Color:

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1
See  »
Edit

Did You Know?

Trivia

The Chinese opera being performed by Song near the beginning is called "Gui Fei Zui Jiu", aka "The Drunken Concubine", aka "Yang Gui Fei Gets Tipsy". See more »

Goofs

The word accordion is misspelled "accordian" in the closing credits. See more »

Quotes

Rene Gallimard: You made me see the beauty of the story, of her death. It's, it's pure sacrifice. He's not worthy of it, but what can she do? She loves him so much. It's very beautiful.
Song Liling: Well, yes, to a Westerner.
Rene Gallimard: I beg your pardon?
Song Liling: It's one of your favorite fantasies, isn't it? The submissive Oriental woman and the cruel white man.
See more »

Frequently Asked Questions

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.

User Reviews

 
Beautiful and Shocking
1 July 2011 | by (United States) – See all my reviews

In 1960s China, French diplomat Rene Gallimard (Jeremy Irons) falls in love with an opera singer, Song Liling (J. Lone) -- but Song is not at all who Gallimard thinks.

I liked when Song Liling said, "It's one of your favorite fantasies, isn't it? The submissive Oriental woman and the cruel white man." She put the story of Madame Butterfly in its place, and then in the much larger context of the Vietnam war that was about to erupt. I do not wish to make any political remarks, but this film was layered very well -- the Madam Butterfly aspect had at least three parallels.

Jeremy Irons is excellent, and it is nice to see him reuniting with Cronenberg. This does not have the "science" of Cronenberg, the "flesh" aspect, but as he says in a feature on the DVD, he leans towards odd communities as a filmmaker. And truly, there are some odd people here... is Song in love with Gallimard or just playing him? What is her secret? I loved the multiple twists and how smoothly they were revealed.

Roger Ebert sees the big twist as obvious from the start, but I think this might be because he cheated. I have to agree with him on this comment, though: "Irons bases his performance on the understanding that erotic impulses are always completely humorless to those who hold them, even though they might seem hilarious to the observer." That, and Irons naturally has a very humorless persona -- even when he jokes, he is all too serious.

I never saw the original play or read it, so I cannot make any educated comparisons to source material. But the film is great, and while not one of Cronenberg's better known films, still a must-see. Just so weird in a non-weird way.


0 of 1 people found this review helpful.  Was this review helpful to you?

Message Boards

Recent Posts
John Lone kzaluska
Anyone seen BD Wong's portrayal of Song Liling? Verisyse
DVD Release? Shoeby
correct me please... mynameismud
DVD Release set for May oneblood
Leslie Cheung as Song Liling? evewing
Discuss M. Butterfly (1993) on the IMDb message boards »

Contribute to This Page

Create a character page for:
?