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      M. Butterfly

      R 1993 1 hr. 40 min. Drama Romance List
      41% 22 Reviews Tomatometer 67% 5,000+ Ratings Audience Score René Gallimard (Jeremy Irons) 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 (John Lone), 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. Read More Read Less Watch on Fandango at Home Premiered Nov 07 Buy Now

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      M. Butterfly

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      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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      Audience Reviews

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      Alec B 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. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/21/24 Full Review Timur B ok. the story is good. theatre in theatre. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 11/11/23 Full Review David W 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. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/24/24 Full Review Joel G 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. Rated 1 out of 5 stars 05/27/23 Full Review thiago r Final extremamente surpreendente. Não esperava nem de longe um plot daquele. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member The greatest 01 hour: and 40 minutes ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/11/23 Full Review Read all reviews Post a rating

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      M. Butterfly

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      Critics Reviews

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      Owen Gleiberman Entertainment Weekly Rated: C- Sep 7, 2011 Full Review David Ansen Newsweek 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. Oct 18, 2008 Full Review Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times 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. Rated: 2.5/4 Jan 1, 2000 Full Review Steve Warren Southern Voice (Atlanta) On stage, M. Butterfly was quite possibly the best drama since Equus. On screen, it's an embarrassment and a bore. May 9, 2023 Full Review Malcolm Johnson Hartford Courant 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. Apr 16, 2018 Full Review Paul Brenner Filmcritic.com 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 Rated: 1.5/5 May 17, 2009 Full Review Read all reviews

      Movie Info

      Synopsis René Gallimard (Jeremy Irons) 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 (John Lone), 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
      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
      Sound Mix
      Surround, Stereo
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