Madame Butterfly

Mitterand's production of Madame Butterfly is an outstanding piece of movie-making. Handled so delicately, the film will have appeal to both opera lovers & movie buffs alike.An enchanting love story, beautiful singing, music by Puccini, an interesting set ( a "house of cards" atop a mountain with views of sea and sky) make for a handsome film. I like the opening sequence which quickly establishes the atmosphere of old Japan. We are introduced to the main character- Butterfly, a 15 year old Japanese girl whose family has fallen into poverty & B.F. Pinkerton, a naval officer, her self-assured American lover who treats her as a sexual plaything. Sacrificing all her ties with the Japanese way of life Butterfly agrees to marry Pinkerton. During the marriage celebrations her absent Uncle Bonzo appears magically suspended in the sky & he casts her into eternal damnation for renouncing her people and ancient rites. This is the only weak point in the movie. It's such a serious moment and yet I wanted to laugh. It's obvious that the three figures in the sky are suspended by wires (a bit jerky too). Why accept this when current cinemaphotography has reached such heights in producing supernatural effects? The characterisations are generally well-done. The part of Butterfly particularly appealing performed with such grace and sincerity. Pinkerton too makes a convincing thoughtless man of the world. In an early scene however he kneels on the floor and converses with Butterfly's maid. I thought this was quite wrong and out of character unless he was trying to ridicule the Japanese customs.When eventually Butterfly becomes pregnant, a son is born, but by now Pinkerton is back in America. For three years she awaits his return. There are some very moving scenes at this point. Finally Pinkerton returns to Nagasaki with an American wife ("a real wife" he calls her). There is a poignant scene when the devoted Butterfly relinquishes her son to Pinkerton's wife. He will go back to the States and be educated there. What future is there for Butterfly? (Tissues may be required at this point!)The ending is heart-rending. I am not a particular lover of opera but after this exciting experience I am ready for more.

In early August I saw this opera for the first time as a 2017 performance at the Royal Opera House, and I loved the music so much I decided to watch this version as well. What makes this movie stand out is the decision to cast Asian actors and actresses for the Asian roles.

Ying Huang (Cio-cio-san/Butterfly) played the affection-starved yet goodhearted woman beautifully. Richard Troxell (Pinkerton, the American naval officer) played the entitled "playboy" so convincingly I had the urge to slap him through the screen. Jingma Fan (Goro) played the marriage broker; in this version he's not only oppertunistic but also slightly malicious which was surprising but Fan played it well.

The visuals in this movie were unexpectedly beautiful. Instead of depicting the bustling harbour city of Nagasaki they chose a more rural setting with thatched houses; as it was shot "on location" in Tunisia the village is dotted with olive trees rather than pine trees. This was probably done for economic reasons, yet it doesn't feel fake for a moment: the houses look real and lively, the gardens are lined with flowers, people are fishing for mussels in the surf. The costumes and interiors were pretty as well. The cinematography was a bit clunky at times (especially in Act 3) which admittedly bothered me more than it should have.

However, I feel the director took too many artistic liberties. By inserting flashbacks and flash-forwards and making it appear as if days or even months pass between different musical pieces he interrupted the pacing of the music. He also left out a good 10 minutes of music at the beginning of Act 3 ("Oh Eh ! Oh Eh !")

Despite some flaws on the director's part, this still makes for a good movie with good casting, beautiful casting and beautiful visuals. I can recommend this movie to everyone, even the people who don't like opera.

The first time I saw Madama Butterfly was early August 2020, as a 2017 performance at the Royal Opera House. I loved the music so much I decided to watch this version as well. This movie has taken a realist approach to depicting the story by Asian singers for the Asian roles. This choice was slightly at the cost of operatic quality, but if for the sake for top-notch voices the cast had been whitewashed and replaced by singers twice as old, I would have skipped it. This is a movie, not a live performance.

Ying Huang (Cio-cio-san/Butterfly) played the affection-starved yet goodhearted woman beautifully, if not a little stiffly at times. Richard Troxell (Pinkerton, the American naval officer) played the entitled "playboy" so convincingly I had the urge to slap him through the screen. Jingma Fan (Goro) played the marriage broker; in this version he's not only oppertunistic but also slightly malicious which was surprising but Fan played it well.

The visuals in this movie were unexpectedly beautiful. Instead of depicting the bustling harbour city of Nagasaki they chose a more rural setting with thatched houses; as it was shot in Tunisia the village is dotted with olive trees rather than pine trees. This was probably done for economic reasons, yet it never feels fake: the houses look real and lively, the gardens are lined with flowers, people are fishing for mussels in the surf. The costumes and interiors were pretty as well.

However, I think the director took too many artistic liberties. By inserting flashbacks and flash-forwards and making it appear as if days or even weeks pass between different events he interrupted the pacing of the music. He also left out about 10 minutes of music at the beginning of Act 3 ("Oh Eh ! Oh Eh !") The cinematography was pretty during shots of landscapes and outside scenes, but during interior scenes the mostly static shots tended to make the rooms look cramped.

Despite good singers and beautiful set design, its shortcomings on both the cinematic and operatic side make this film fall short of being great. However, it is still good and I can recommend this to everyone.

I am not one for operas - have only seen a few in my lifetime- but was so intrigued with the basic storyline of Madame Butterfly (being a deep-down, incurable romantic), that I gave it a shot. Didn't know the full story, so when I saw Capt Pinkerton singing about having one in every port, I jumped up and shouted: "S.O.B.!" The actress who played Madame Butterfly portrayed the part of someone in Total & Complete Denial extremely well. Singing was good, though I am not really into that high-pitched warbling stuff. I thought the flying spirits were a bit flaky (sort of like the mother's spirit in "Like Water For Chocolate"), but the film was otherwise quite moving. The little boy looked exactly like my brother Joe looked at 3 y.o., so that was authentic for me. Saw the film last night, and my eyes are still swollen from crying. Gets a 10 on my "cry-O-meter" - damned good!

Unfortunatly , their lips aren't moving right. So their either lip synching or it's been dubbed. Richard Troxell's the best in this. His emotion drips off the screen. So's his cohort. The actress playing butterfly looks and acts too old for the part. I personally loved this film. But as they are singing in opera terms, many might not appreciate it. It's up to you. (example: I found it to be uplifting and another person found it to be more depressing than The Refelecting Skin.) So what you take from it is entirely up to you. :)

9/10 (can't give it a full 10 because of the dubbing/lip synch problems.

Quality: 9/10 Entertainment: 10/10 (how can you not. with such powerful singing) Replayable: 6/10