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Madame Butterfly

  • 1995
  • 2h 14m
IMDb RATING
7.0/10
657
YOUR RATING
Richard Troxell and Ying Huang in Madame Butterfly (1995)
DramaMusic

The story of a young geisha who falls madly in love with an american captain that travels all around the world collecting hearts.The story of a young geisha who falls madly in love with an american captain that travels all around the world collecting hearts.The story of a young geisha who falls madly in love with an american captain that travels all around the world collecting hearts.

  • Director
    • Frédéric Mitterrand
  • Writers
    • Giuseppe Giacosa
    • Luigi Illica
    • Frédéric Mitterrand
  • Stars
    • Ying Huang
    • Richard Troxell
    • Ning Liang
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    7.0/10
    657
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Frédéric Mitterrand
    • Writers
      • Giuseppe Giacosa
      • Luigi Illica
      • Frédéric Mitterrand
    • Stars
      • Ying Huang
      • Richard Troxell
      • Ning Liang
    • 17User reviews
    • 9Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 1 win & 1 nomination total

    Photos14

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    Top cast82

    Edit
    Ying Huang
    Ying Huang
    • Cio-Cio-San
    Richard Troxell
    Richard Troxell
    • Pinkerton
    Ning Liang
    • Suzuki
    Richard Cowan
    • Sharpless
    Jing Ma Fan
    • Goro
    Christopheren Nòmura
    • Prince Yamadori
    Constance Hauman
    Constance Hauman
    • Kate Pinkerton
    Kusakabe Yo
    • Uncle Bonze
    Kamel Touati
    Kamel Touati
    • Uncle Yakusidé
    Miki-Lou Pinard
    • The Child
    Yoshi Oida
    Yoshi Oida
    • Butterfly's Father
    Qing Wu
    • Imperial Commissary
    Nabil Agoun
    • The Orderly Officer
    Lofti Bahri
    • Officer in Charge
    Salem Zahrouni
    • The Photographer
    Thérèse Nguyen Ba Hau
    • Butterfly's Mother
    Wen-Juan Zhao
    • The Cousin
    Midori Mornet
    • The Aunt
    • Director
      • Frédéric Mitterrand
    • Writers
      • Giuseppe Giacosa
      • Luigi Illica
      • Frédéric Mitterrand
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews17

    7.0657
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    Featured reviews

    8TheLittleSongbird

    Mostly excellent

    I love Madame Butterfly so naturally I wanted to see this 1995 film. And I am so glad I saw it, as it is a beautiful and excellent film of a wonderful opera. At hindsight, the opera's story is rather implausible, however the love story and telling of it is timeless, Cio Cio San is a charming lead character and the music(my favourites being Humming Chorus, Flower Duet, Un Bel Di Vedremo and particularly the act 1 love duet) is among Puccini's very finest.

    There are only two things I wasn't crazy about here. One was showing the Gonze as a supernatural figure and floating in mid air, I personally found it unnecessary and felt it distracted from the drama of that particular moment. The other was the use of black and white footage of old Japan. In a way it was interesting, but I for one wasn't entirely sure whether it fitted with the scene(Humming Chorus in this case).

    However, this film is visually stunning, with sweeping camera shots, stunning scenery and evocative costumes. The beautiful music is beautifully performed by the orchestra and is conducted with precision and sensitivity. When it comes to the acting/staging, the love duet was genuinely affecting and the Flower Duet blended and acted beguilingly, but the revelations were Un Bel Di Vedremo and the final scene, both of which moved me to tears.

    The acting and singing work hugely too. Ying Huang amazed me with her beauty and appealing voice, and Richard Troxell is an excellent Pinkerton, never trying too hard to make us hate him. Ning Liang is one of the most sympathetic Suzukis I know of, and Sharpless shapes his music beautifully. Goro also is more cynical and less bumbling, something that I loved and found refreshing.

    Overall, excellent film and one where a box of tissues by your side is necessary. 8/10 Bethany Cox
    8Lady_Targaryen

    Frédéric Mitterrand made a great opera movie

    Madame Butterfly is a beautiful, romantic and dramatic story. It is all about a fifteen years old geisha called Cio Cio-San, who gets married with the official of the American navy, Benjamim Franklin Pinkerton.

    Pinkerton, the fiancé, is just buying a woman, as he did in other parts of the world, to be close in his moments of loneliness, while he doesn't marry a true American wife.

    After three years of marriage, Pinkerton goes back to the United States, leaving Butterfly with a small son he never knew. Cio Cio San believes that her husband will return, and she refuses to assume her Japanese values and a new life.

    During all the story, Cio Cio-San will always count with the unconditional friendship of the maid Suzuki.

    To get things worst, Butterfly receives a letter of Pinkerton informing that he will not return anymore, making clear that he married an American woman. Butterfly interprets his words in an erroneous way, and she sees new hopes for of her husband arrival.

    He returns, however, to look for his son.

    The end of the plot shows the suicide of Butterfly, when noticing that she had lost everything that she loved, the husband and now also the son. (She had used as a weapon her father's sword, with the inscription: "To die with honor, when one can no longer live with honor". The now-humiliated, heartbroken daughter of a disgraced samurai, she dies proudly - as a samurai.)

    The opera is tragic, because Cio Cio-San really believes in her illusions, and she only notices the mistakes very late.

    There are difficulties, for example, how she was renounced by her relatives by converting Pinkerton's religion (Catholicism), or her son, that came to this world, only after the American had already left.

    The history is full of cultural contrasts, since the story is in the Japan of the beginning of XX century, where the prejudices were worst.

    The reason whyI liked this movie so much : in my opinion, it is the best Madame Butterfly I have ever seen in a movie. I was surprised to see that the movie is all sang in opera terms. Many people might not like that.

    The sets are beautiful, and the movie was made full of details, to really show the Japanese habits, thoughts and life style.

    Frédéric Mitterrand had even the concern of choosing Asian actors to play in the cast, much better then Jean Pierre-Ponnele's version, where all of the actors are westerns.
    8PatrynXX

    Strong story lends to some powerful acting.

    Unfortunatly , their lips aren't moving right. So their either lip synching or it's been dubbed. Richard Troxell's the best in this. His emotion drips off the screen. So's his cohort. The actress playing butterfly looks and acts too old for the part. I personally loved this film. But as they are singing in opera terms, many might not appreciate it. It's up to you. (example: I found it to be uplifting and another person found it to be more depressing than The Refelecting Skin.) So what you take from it is entirely up to you. :)

    9/10 (can't give it a full 10 because of the dubbing/lip synch problems.

    Quality: 9/10 Entertainment: 10/10 (how can you not. with such powerful singing) Replayable: 6/10
    10deb_wong

    Emotion Invoking

    I am not one for operas - have only seen a few in my lifetime- but was so intrigued with the basic storyline of Madame Butterfly (being a deep-down, incurable romantic), that I gave it a shot. Didn't know the full story, so when I saw Capt Pinkerton singing about having one in every port, I jumped up and shouted: "S.O.B.!" The actress who played Madame Butterfly portrayed the part of someone in Total & Complete Denial extremely well. Singing was good, though I am not really into that high-pitched warbling stuff. I thought the flying spirits were a bit flaky (sort of like the mother's spirit in "Like Water For Chocolate"), but the film was otherwise quite moving. The little boy looked exactly like my brother Joe looked at 3 y.o., so that was authentic for me. Saw the film last night, and my eyes are still swollen from crying. Gets a 10 on my "cry-O-meter" - damned good!
    annie-135

    Best production of Puccini's opera so far

    This gorgeously shot and brilliantly directed film version of the opera is the most passionate I've seen. The acting is unusually detailed and truthful for an opera, especially Butterfly's total commitment and Pinkerton's breezy lust.

    But why didn't we see his ship sail into the bay? The water and mountains seemed destined for that shot, but didn't deliver. The boy was too old, the voice of the "uncle" in the sky didn't work, but generally it was a deeply moving experience, rising to a terrific climax in her suicide and his remorse. That last closeup of Pinkerton, racked by remorse, lifting the dying Butterfly, was powerful. The film aired in Canada on Aug 8 on the Bravo! TV network. I couldn't tear myself away to get to a party till the final credits were rolling.

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      The entire Japanese village set and house were built in Tunisia, Northern Africa.
    • Goofs
      During Act 2 and Act 3, a blooming wisteria is shown to be growing along the house's roof above the porch. In reality wisteria would not have been grown here as the house's structure would have been unsuitable for it. Wisteria is a plant known to become heavy and massive with age; it would have been grown along a sturdy trellis or stone wall instead as not to cause any damage.
    • Quotes

      Lieutenant Benjamin Franklin Pinkerton: She's like a porcelain doll. She sets me on fire.

    • Connections
      Featured in Siskel & Ebert: The Cable Guy/Stealing Beauty/Moll Flanders/Sgt. Kabukiman NYPD/The Switchblade Sisters/Madame Butterfly (1996)

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    FAQ17

    • How long is Madame Butterfly?Powered by Alexa

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • November 22, 1995 (France)
    • Countries of origin
      • France
      • United Kingdom
      • Germany
    • Language
      • Italian
    • Also known as
      • Madame Butterfly, de Frederick Mitterand
    • Filming locations
      • Tunisia
    • Production companies
      • Erato Films
      • Idéale Audience
      • Imalyre
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $65,196
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $6,027
      • May 5, 1996
    • Gross worldwide
      • $65,196
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      2 hours 14 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Dolby SR
    • Aspect ratio
      • 2.35 : 1

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