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M. Butterfly
Academy-Award winner Jeremy Irons stars as a French diplomat who falls in love with a Beijing Opera singer who's not quite as she seems, in David Cronenberg's piercing drama.
Director: David Cronenberg
Overview
Academy-Award winner Jeremy Irons stars as a French diplomat who falls in love with a Beijing Opera singer who's not quite as she seems, in David Cronenberg's piercing drama. Acclaimed horror director Cronenberg found himself moving into more mainstream territory in the 1990s, following two relatively high-brow literary adaptations in Dead Ringers and Naked Lunch. As the apotheosis of this movement, M Butterfly found Cronenberg eschewing his trademark 'body horror' entirely in his adaptation of David Henry Hwang's Tony Award-winning play. Focusing instead on psychological torment, the film received a muted response upon its release; too strange for mainstream audiences but too conventional for Cronenberg fans; but can now be revisted as a finely composed drama with tremendous performances, and ahead of its time for a Hollywood film dealing with Trans themes.
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