M. Butterfly

       

Ok so normally I wouldn't watch a movie like this, just because it's not really something that would catch my eye. Hwang is a really cryptic author, he doesn't really tell us what's the meaning of a symbol or  certain event until the exact right moment which really makes him a special writer.  I don't know if I liked it, it was a head turner because you didn't expect a lot of things... ( you know what I'm talking about Mrs. Patton)!

The movie is based on a true story, (OoOoO scary!). The protagonist of the movie is a man named Rene Gallimard. He is a civil servant in the French embassy and goes on to fall in love with an Chinese opera singer named Song Liling! His liking eventually leads to an affair that will go on to last 20 years until he is arrested for treason! But the really heartbreaker is finding out that this beautiful "woman" he loved turned out to be a guy. You see in Beijing opera women were banned from the stage so all their parts were played by men disguised as women. Then, if not being a woman was enough, it's showed that he (or she) is a spy as well. 

So let's stop right there and just take a moment to deeply sympathize with this man, not only is the woman he loves a man but she is a spy too...can it get any worse? I shouldn't have asked because it does...
In the final scene it shows Gallimard committing "seppuku" which is a "ritual Japanese suicide through self-disembowelment" So now that we've covered how epically horrible this guy's life is we can move on, finally!

What really caught my attention was the way he committed suicide was directly comparable to the Butterfly's suicide...I mean I think that was pretty weird. Also to me, butterflies are a sign of metamorphosis so I wonder if that has anything to do with how Gallimard has changed throughout the play? Another thing was I wondered if Gallimard was actually gay? It wasn't a topic that was brought up but as I researched the play/movie I came upon someone's opinion that he was gay. I don't know if I believe that because he didn't really know that Song was a guy to begin in with, he was lead to believe she was his perfect woman.

This movie wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be but it's still a pretty horrible ending, I don't care about the symbolism!