Zi hu die (2003)

Cynthia is a young Chinese woman in love with Itami, a Japanese man about to be sent home for military service.

Director:

Ye Lou

Writer:

Ye Lou

Stars:

Ziyi Zhang, Tôru Nakamura, Ye Liu

1 win & 8 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Ziyi Zhang	...	Cynthia / Ding Hui (as Zhang Ziyi)
Ye Liu	...	Situ (Szeto)
Yuanzheng Feng	...	Xie Ming
Tôru Nakamura	...	Hidehiko Itami
Bingbing Li	...	Tang Yiling
Kin Ei	...	Yamamoto
Leni Lan Crazybarby	...	A zi (as Lan Yan)
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Seiichiro Hashimoto	...	(as Sciichiro Hashimoto)
Felicia Pullam	...	Russian Prostitute (as Fellicia Pullam)
Cheryl Xie	...	(as Li Xie)
Anlian Yao

Storyline

Ding Hui is a member of Purple Butterfly, a powerful resistance group in Japanese occupied Shanghai. An unexpected encounter reunites her with Itami, an ex-lover... and officer with a secret police unit tasked with dismantling Purple Butterfly.

---

Plot Keywords:

army | shanghai | spy | espionage | chinese resistance | 

---

Genres:

Drama | History | War

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong violence and a scene of sexuality

Did You Know?

Quotes

Hidehiko Itami: Yamamoto isn't coming. He's dead. Your mission is accomplished.
Hidehiko Itami: Xie Ming won't be coming either. He's dead too. I did my job as well.
Hidehiko Itami: We can go to Tokyo now. We've won, Cynthia.

---

Soundtracks

Could Not Get Your Love
Written by Yao Min (composition), Yan Kuan & Su Wong (lyrics)
Performed by Yao Li
Courtesy of EMI Music Publishing Hong Kong

User Reviews

'Difficult' but extremely rewarding

Sixth Generation Chinese director Ye Lou's visually stunning revolutionary romance "Purple Butterfly" is set in Japanese occupied Manchuria in the 1930's and for the first 45 minutes or so you may find it impossible to figure out who's who or what's going on, (I certainly did). Lou uses hand-held cameras to dizzying effect and shoots mostly in various shades of blue and with an awful lot of rain. What is clear is there is an underground organization, (the Purple Butterfly), dedicated to fighting the Japanese and that there's a traitor in their midst. Otherwise the plot is reasonably complex and the time structure not always clear while a case of mistaken identity does little to help. Nevertheless, trying to put the pieces together in some kind of logical order turns out to be hugely rewarding and, as I've said, it's visually magnificent with superb performances from the entire cast. Inevitably it will remind you of the cinema of Kar-Wai Wong but Ye Lou remains his own man and even if you need to see this a couple of times to 'get it' it will be time well spent.

Details

Country:

China France

Language:

Mandarin Japanese Vietnamese

Release Date:

17 September 2004 (Greece)

Also Known As:

紫蝴蝶

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$6,970, 28 November 2004

Gross USA:

$17,790

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$17,790

Company Credits

Production Co:

Dream Factory, Lou Yi Ltd., Shanghai Film Studios

Technical Specs

Runtime:

127 min 127 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color