M Butterfly - David Cronenberg

In 1988 a play by David Henry Hwang named M. Butterfly opened on Broadway. It was based on a true story of a French diplomat who fell in love with a Chinese Opera singer while he was stationed in China. Later it was revealed that the opera singer was a spy, and a man. The play won a Tony award for best play, and was also a Pulitzer Prize finalist. I had heard about this show, and was intrigued by the link to Puccini's opera Madam Butterfly. 

When it came to the Twin Cities, it played at the Ordway and I saw it twice....from the very last row as I was a poor student. However I was intrigued and amazed at the show. It was a small intimate show from what I remember - small cast, focusing the attention on these two leading roles. I was fascinated when during intermission the character of Song Liling changes from the feminine appearing character, into a masculine appearing character on stage. I thought it was amazing to watch this transformation. I found the script to have some very good things to say about men, women, how the East is viewed by the West, and possibly why it is viewed that way. Having grown up in Japan, this viewpoint was somewhat new to me.

In 1993 David Cronenberg came out with a film version of M. Butterfly. At the time, I thought it was very good. I had a crush on the two leads (at the time) so that made it easier to watch. John Lone as Song was gorgeous, and in my mind Jeremy Irons was everything. Looking back, and rewatching the film now is a slightly different experience. I felt that John Lone was too obviously masculine in appearance, and I found the film to be very male dominated. With the film setting, we are taken to different locations which lessened the impact of the relationship between the two men. There is also a time difference between 2022 and 1993 when it comes to how men and women treat each other, and expect to be treated. There were many moments that made me uncomfortable due to Iron's character just walking into to Liling's space and expecting her to drop everything for him.Of course, the show is set in the last 1960's in China, before the Cultural Revolution so that does play into this as well.

If you have never seen the film, I think you should. Or at least read the script of the play. It had a recent revival on Broadway in 2017 that had Hwang revisit the script. I have not read that version but am very interested in what sort of changes may have been made to address more of the intersectionality of the characters.