Puccini's classic opera of a trusting woman and how her love was tragically betrayed comes to the screen in this faithful film adaptation. In the 19th century, an American sailor named Benjamin Franklin Pinkerton (Richard Troxell) arrives in Japan and meets a 15-year-old girl named Cio-Cio-San (Ying Huang), whom he calls Butterfly. Butterfly falls in love with Pinkerton, but he regards their romance as a temporary fling and blithely asks for her hand even though he has no intention of bringing her with him when he returns to the States. Blinded by love, Butterfly marries Pinkerton, even though it means turning her back on her family and her faith, and to the surprise of few aside from herself, he soon leaves her behind. Three years later, Butterfly has a child whom Pinkerton fathered shortly before his departure, and the heart-broken woman lives for the day that he returns, though her friends give her little hope that this will ever happen. One day, Pinkerton does indeed return -- with his American wife Kate (Constance Hauman) in tow, and with the intention of taking possession of his child and bringing him back to the United States, leaving Butterfly entirely alone. Madame Butterfly was directed by Frederic Mitterrand, the son of former French president Francois Mitterrand; the score was performed the Orchestre de Paris, under the direction of James Conlon. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review by All Movie Guide
All Movie Guide
is neutral about it.
This 1995 Frédéric Mitterand production of Giacomo Puccini's Madame Butterfly demonstrates the power of film to expand the audiovisual horizons of opera. First, it presents mostly young, attractive singers -- such as 23-year-old Chinese soprano Ying Huan -- in the principal roles instead of the typical aging and often portly singers. Huan's stunning voice and innocent face make her a nearly perfect Cio-Cio San. Second, the film sets the action in a lush, lakeside Tunisian hamlet specially constructed to resemble the setting of the opera, a Japanese town outside Nagasaki. Such an arrangement permits the camera to break free of the stage-bound environment and roam outdoors and indoors, marrying nature with the culture and costumes of 1904 Japan and the splendor of Puccini's music. Third, the film uses technical magic -- acoustics, stereo sound reproduction, period costumes, special effects, careful cinematography, and subtitles -- to take the opera well beyond the limits of the conventional opera stage. Of course, it is the haunting orchestral and vocal melodies that tell the story. As the plot builds to its heartbreaking climax, Huang, tenor Richard Troxell, and the other performers -- mezzo-soprano Ning Liang as Butterfly's servant Suzuki and baritone Richard Cowan as the American consul -- all perform brilliantly. Even opera-haters will love this Madame Butterfly. ~ Mike Cummings, All Movie Guide