Synopsis
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.
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Cast
- Jeremy IronsRené Gallimard
- John LoneSong Liling
- Barbara SukowaJeanne Gallimard
- Ian RichardsonAmbassador Toulon
- Annabel LeventonFrau Baden
- Shizuko HoshiComrade Chin
- Richard McMillanEmbassy Colleague
- Vernon DobtcheffAgent Etancelin
- David HemblenIntelligence Officer #1
- Damir AndreiIntelligence Officer #2
- 63
Chicago Sun-Times
M. Butterfly does not take hold the way the stage play did. - 63
Chicago Sun-Times
M. Butterfly does not take hold the way the stage play did. - 60
The New York Times
M. Butterfly as idiosyncratic as Mr. Cronenberg's work always is, is sometimes too flat and ambiguous for its own good. - 60
The New York Times
M. Butterfly as idiosyncratic as Mr. Cronenberg's work always is, is sometimes too flat and ambiguous for its own good. - 50
Austin Chronicle
Despite the sheer gorgeousness, it ends up feeling false and, towards the end, rushed. - 50
ReelViews
The movie, however, seems to make the wrong decision at almost every opportunity, trying for the kind of melodramatic tragedy that only works in opera. - 50
TV Guide Magazine
Though carefully cast and set in the most exotic of locales, the drama lacks any real excitement, the director's glacial style aligning itself all too patly with Hwang's arid rhetoric. - 50
Austin Chronicle
Despite the sheer gorgeousness, it ends up feeling false and, towards the end, rushed.