M. Butterfly (1993)

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M. Butterfly is a play by David Henry Hwang. I didn't see it onstage; rather, I saw the 1993 movie top-billed by Jeremy Irons and John Lone. Jeremy Irons is an actor I have always associated with Die Hard With a Vengeance and with The Man in the Iron Mask. I first saw John Lone, on the other hand, in The Shadow. These two actors portrayed lovers in M. Butterfly. However, the story was far from linear because Lone's character was a theatre actor portraying a woman. Iron's character fell for the woman onstage, never realising (or refusing to admit) that he was, in fact, in love with a man.

Many people normally see this movie from a gender perspective: What makes a man fall in love with another man? How did the man know how to behave like a woman? What motivated the prolonged pretence? Stereotypes of Asians and Westerners also come to the fore in the movie. Why is the Asian stereotype usually a damsel-in distress? Why are Westerners typically portrayed as heroes saving the day?

What I haven't heard discussed about this movie is the difficult life of a diplomat in East Asia during the 1960s, the setting of the play. At that time, China was undergoing a cultural revolution, Vietnam was at war, and Westerners were, according to the movie, trying hard to make sure that the situations would be resolved to their best interests. For Irons' René Gallimard, he had to work out of his comfort zone because (1) he didn't have the typical strong character associated with the West; (2) he worked as a diplomat in China; (3) his home life was not the strongest. He was the perfect victim for Lone's Song Liling, who doubled as a spy. Gallimard, obviously, was no James Bond; Song Liling was able to wrap him around "her" finger.

Life abroad is difficult. Perhaps, more so for people working in the diplomatic corps because they represent their countries of origin. They need strength of character to deal with the temptations of exotic experiences in foreign lands. If they don't, they endanger their countries' reputation and, possibly, operations. The stakes are higher, definitely.

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