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M. Butterfly

M. Butterfly

Romance · Drama · History · 1993

In 1960s China, French diplomat Rene Gallimard falls in love with opera singer Song Liling – but Song is not at all who Gallimard thinks.

Movie details

M. Butterfly

“Passion. Power. Revenge. In All Their Majesty.”

1993 Romance · Drama · History 1h 41m

Critical arithmetic

The consensus, allegedly.

IMDb

6.7 / 10

11.5K votes

Metacritic

43 / 100

Metascore

TMDB

6.6 / 10

Community rating

External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.

In 1960s China, French diplomat Rene Gallimard falls in love with opera singer Song Liling – but Song is not at all who Gallimard thinks.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over M. Butterfly?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Where it lives

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

David Cronenberg

Written by

David Henry Hwang

Jeremy Irons

Jeremy Irons

René Gallimard

John Lone

John Lone

Song Liling

Barbara Sukowa

Barbara Sukowa

Jeanne Gallimard

Annabel Leventon

Annabel Leventon

Frau Baden

Shizuko Hoshi

Shizuko Hoshi

Comrade Chin

Ian Richardson

Ian Richardson

Ambassador Toulon

Richard McMillan

Richard McMillan

Embassy Colleague

Court is in session

Put M. Butterfly on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Prestige Tourist

“Sincerity is not manipulation.”

The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.

The prosecution The Adrenaline Seeker

“The strings are showing.”

Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.