M Butterfly Blossom

Description

M. Butterfly is a 1993 American romantic drama film directed by David Cronenberg and written by David Henry Hwang based on his 1988 play. The film stars Jeremy Irons and John Lone, with Ian Richardson, Barbara Sukowa, and Annabel Leventon.

The story is loosely based on true events which involved French diplomat Bernard Boursicot and Chinese opera singer Shi Pei Pu.

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.

• Jeremy Irons as René Gallimard
• John Lone as Song Liling
• Ian Richardson as Ambassador Toulon
• Barbara Sukowa as Jeanne Gallimard
• Annabel Leventon as Frau Baden
• Shizuko Hoshi as Comrade Chin
• Vernon Dobtcheff as Agent Entacelin

David Henry Hwang‘s play M. Butterfly, based on the relationship between Bernard Boursicot and Shi Pei Pu, opened on Broadway in 1988, and was critically and financially successful. David Geffen, the play’s producer, retained the film rights through his company. He worked with Warner Bros. on the film and it was given a budget of $17–18 million.

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.

 It was the most expensive film directed by Cronenberg until A History of Violence.

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.

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

Cronenberg auditioned over sixty men for the role of Liling before selecting John Lone.

The costume design was done by Cronenberg’s sister Denise 5,979 costumes were used in the film. Hairstyling was done by Aldo Signoretti.

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.

The film was mostly filmed in Toronto and was also shot in Beijing, Budapest, and Paris 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« .

Cronenberg was unable to accept the Genie Awards he won for Naked Lunch in person as he was filming in Hungary.