René Gallimard is a French diplomat assigned to Beijing, China in the 1960s. He becomes infatuated with a Peking opera performer, Song Liling, who spies on him for the government of the People's Republic of China. Their affair lasts for 20 years, and they subsequently marry, with Gallimard all the while apparently unaware, or willfully ignorant, of the fact that in Peking opera Dan roles were traditionally performed by men.
Cronenberg stated that "Ironically, if there was ever a film of mine that you could call a sellout, it was M. Butterfly". He read the film script written by Hwang before seeing his for the first time. Geffen initially wanted Peter Weir to direct the film, but Weir declined.[3][4][1] It was the most expensive film directed by Cronenberg until A History of Violence.[5]
Cronenberg had parts of the script, such as Americans in Vietnam and bombing scenes, removed as he was not interested in it. The first draft of the script featured Gallimard watching the Madama Butterfly opera with his mother as a child.[6] The ending scene between Gallimard and Liling in the police van was created by Cronenberg as he "just knew that it wouldn't play in prison the way it was in the play" as he felt Liling being allowed in Gallimard's cell and stripping would be unbelievable.[7]
Cronenberg auditioned over sixty men for the role of Liling before selecting John Lone.[8] The costume design was done by Cronenberg's sister Denise 5,979 costumes were used in the film. Hairstyling was done by Aldo Signoretti.[9] Randy Balsmeyer and Mimi Everett designed the title sequence, which features CGI created using Softimage 3D, and purchased around $30,000 worth of antique kimonos for it. It was their first title sequence to be fully computer generated.[10]
The film was mostly filmed in Toronto and was also shot in Beijing, Budapest, and Paris[11][12] from August to December 1992. It was Cronenberg's first film to be shot outside of Canada. Geffen and Warner Bros. were impressed by the first trailer and the grand scale despite its small budget according to Cronenberg as "for 17 million dollars we got a fucking 50 million dollar epic".[13] Cronenberg was unable to accept the Genie Awards he won for Naked Lunch in person as he was filming in Hungary.[14]
The film was a commercial failure[15] and grossed $1,498,795 in the domestic box office.[19] It earned $57,280 in its domestic opening weekend.[20] Cronenberg stated that he was disappointed by the film's reception and felt that it was overshadowed by The Crying Game.[21] He said that the films paralleled each other as both were transsexual, transracial, and transcultural.[22]
Reception
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 39%, based on 23 reviews, and an average rating of 5.60/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "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."[23] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 43 out of 100, based on 19 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[24]
Marshall Fine gave the film two stars wrote that "it's hard to know where Hwang and Cronenberg went wrong in translating this film from stage to screen" and "it lacks the power, the ambition and the drama of the play".[25] Craig MacInnis, writing in the Toronto Star, wrote that "Against all odds, M. Butterfly is a boring film",[26] Robert Feldberg, writing in The Record, wrote that it was "remarkably boring" in his 1½ star review,[27] and Kenneth Turan, in the Los Angeles Times, wrote that the "Dazzling and multicolored" play was "turned into a drab moth of a film".[28]Gene Siskel gave the film 2½ stars stating that it was a "disappointing treatment of the hit play" and that it failed "because it is impossible to believe that Irons' character can't figure out that this womanly figure is really a man".[29]
Jami Bernard praised Irons and Lone's acting in her 3½ star review.[30] Eleanor O'Sullivan, writing a 2½ star review in Asbury Park Press, criticized Irons as being miscast and that Gallimard should have had a previous gay relationship as it would have "given real force to his resolution to believe the man he loves is a woman".[31] Rene Rodriguez, writing in the Miami Herald, also criticized the performances in his two star review stating that Irons "doesn't seem to be all here" compared to his "terrific dual performance" in Dead Ringers and Lone was not believable as a woman.[32]
Noel Taylor, writing in the Ottawa Citizen, gave the film four stars.[33] Jay Boyar wrote that there was "not a single unearned tear in this M. Butterfly" in his four star review in the Orlando Sentinel.[34]Roger Ebert gave the film 2½ stars and a thumbs up, but criticized that it "does not take hold the way the stage play did" and the two ending scenes "fly so recklessly in the face of plausibility that we're distracted".[35]
