M. Butterfly Reviews

To be honest, I really had no idea what to expect from this flick but since it was directed by David Cronenberg, I still wanted to check it out. Well, at first, it seemed to be a rather odd project for Cronenberg, especially at this point of his career, but, apparently, he was a huge fan of the play and he was really eager to direct this movie. However, the whole thing eventually turned out to be after all about one of the most messed up romantic relationships I have ever seen and, then, it made sense that Cronenberg would be so attracted to it. However, in contrary to ‘The Crying Game’ which delivered one of the most shocking twists ever and in spite of a solid performance by John Lone, it was pretty obvious from the start that Song Liling was actually a man. As a result, it was rather difficult to understand what was the deal exactly with the main character. I mean, I don’t blame Jeremy Irons, he was a perfect choice to play this character and he was as usual pretty good but was this guy a complete idiot? Or was he actually aware of Song Liling's true nature and was he wrapped up into some kind of really weird sexual fantasy? Unfortunately, the makers never did confront this issue at any moment through the whole duration, even towards the end, when René Gallimard was asked point-blank what was going on during a trial. On top of that, as if this story was not complicated enough, Song Liling turned out to be a spy which was rather odd because, when she first got acquainted with Gallimard, the guy was only an accountant and therefore hardly an interesting target for a spy. Of course, he got a promotion but to give such a promotion to an accountant didn’t make much sense, without mentioning the fact that Gallimard was apparently vastly incompetent at his new position. Anyway, to conclude, even though the whole thing was seriously half-baked, there was still something quite fascinating about this weird romance and I think it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in David Cronenberg’s work.