M. Butterfly: David Cronenberg

Even though M. Butterfly wasn't based on an original idea by David Cronenberg, it still fits snugly into the Canadian director's filmography.  In fact, when considered from the perspective of auteur theory, M. Butterfly is more inherently "Cronenbergian" than several of his other films.  For example, even though Cronenberg helped write the screenplay for his drag racing film Fast Company (1979), it is viewed as an anomaly when compared to a career dominated by body horror.  On the other hand, M. Butterfly was a story that Cronenberg had no hand in creating or developing.  It was based off the play "M. Butterfly" by David Henry Hwang which was itself based on the real life relationship between French diplomat Bernard Boursicot and Shi Pei Pu, a male Peking opera singer.  Of course, the story is centered around the fact that during their 20 year affair, Boursicot was completely unaware that his lover was both a man and a spy for the Chinese government.  This story touches on many of the themes that defined Cronenberg's early and mid-career work: seduction by a foreign "other," the swapping of gender roles, and betrayal at the hands of the human body.  The film opens in Beijing in the 1960s where the Boursicot character, here renamed to "René Gallimard," falls in love with the Pu character, here renamed to "Song Liling." One of the film's central themes is the West's inability or unwillingness to try and understand Eastern culture. This is reflected by Gallimard's ignorance at the fact that in the Peking opera, all of the female parts are played by crossdressing men. If Gallimard had actually learned Chinese or researched basic information about the Peking opera, the whole affair could have been avoided.  But Gallimard becomes entranced by this "perfect Oriental woman" to the point that he doesn't even question the fact that Liling refuses to take his clothes off during sex.  One of the film's most fascinating aspects is how it considers Liling's involvement in the whole affair. Liling takes part in the charade because of the political turmoil in China. With the outbreak of the Cultural Revolution, Liling decides that playing along and working for the Chinese government would be the wisest, and safest, thing to do.  20 years later, the affair comes crashing down when Gallimard is arrested and tried by the French for treason.  Liling is revealed to be a man and Gallimard's response...well, let's just say that it turns the relationship's gender roles on its head. Many critics didn't like M. Butterfly. But from the reviews that I read, their main complaint was that the film wasn't "Cronenbergian" enough. But I disagree. Just because there aren't any exploding heads, mutated women, or talking bugs doesn't mean that M. Butterfly is anything less than one of Cronenberg's greatest and most personal works.

8/10