Puccini - Madame Butterfly / Huang, Troxell

Starring:Ying Huang, Richard Troxell, Ning Liang, Richard Cowan (II), Jing Ma Fan, Christopheren NÃ²mura, Constance Hauman, Kusakabe Yo, Kamel Touati, Miki-Lou Pinard, Yoshi Oida, Qing Wu, Nabil Agoun, Lofti Bahri, Salem Zahrouni, ThÃ©rÃ¨se Nguyen Ba Hau, Zhao Wen-Juan, Midori Mornet, Abdellaziz Aslen, Santy Norasingh
Director: FrÃ©dÃ©ric Mitterrand
Studio: Sony Pictures
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Amazon.com
Like the finest of film scores with its fluid beauty and succession of intensely romantic tunes, Puccini's opera Madame Butterfly has a surprisingly cinematic feel. In 1995 director Frederic Mitterand exploited this quality of the story, exposing a young woman's disillusionment against a backdrop of cultural chasms. Shot on location, with Tunisia doubling convincingly as a turn-of-the-century Nagasaki, this Butterfly shines with fragile beauty. The house becomes a brilliantly used set, at once airy and full of the scent of flowers and at the same time a cage for the trapped woman. Archive footage of bygone Nagasaki is used skillfully to underline the distance between the 15-year-old bride and Pinkerton.

Purists may prefer a more traditionally robust, stage-bound Butterfly, but you'd be hard-pressed to find a more visually heartbreaking interpretation. Chinese soprano Ying Huang doesn't rock the rafters with her vocal power; hers is a tender, delicately observed performance. Tenor Richard Troxell's self-seeking Pinkerton is well sung. Overall, this is a haunting cinematic treatment of an enduringly popular opera. --Piers Ford
Description
Madame Butterfly is the heartwrenching story of a beautiful young geisha who sacrifices her family, her religion and, ultimately, her life for her American husband. Butterfly is the young bride of Lieutenant Pinkerton, who buys Butterfly's love while stationed in Japan and with no intention of ever taking her home to America. Martin Scorsese presents this award-winning film based on the popular opera. 133 minutes. Cast:

Amazon.com

Like the finest of film scores with its fluid beauty and succession of intensely romantic tunes, Puccini's opera Madame Butterfly has a surprisingly cinematic feel. In 1995 director Frederic Mitterand exploited this quality of the story, exposing a young woman's disillusionment against a backdrop of cultural chasms. Shot on location, with Tunisia doubling convincingly as a turn-of-the-century Nagasaki, this Butterfly shines with fragile beauty. The house becomes a brilliantly used set, at once airy and full of the scent of flowers and at the same time a cage for the trapped woman. Archive footage of bygone Nagasaki is used skillfully to underline the distance between the 15-year-old bride and Pinkerton.

Purists may prefer a more traditionally robust, stage-bound Butterfly, but you'd be hard-pressed to find a more visually heartbreaking interpretation. Chinese soprano Ying Huang doesn't rock the rafters with her vocal power; hers is a tender, delicately observed performance. Tenor Richard Troxell's self-seeking Pinkerton is well sung. Overall, this is a haunting cinematic treatment of an enduringly popular opera. --Piers Ford

Description

Madame Butterfly is the heartwrenching story of a beautiful young geisha who sacrifices her family, her religion and, ultimately, her life for her American husband. Butterfly is the young bride of Lieutenant Pinkerton, who buys Butterfly's love while stationed in Japan and with no intention of ever taking her home to America. Martin Scorsese presents this award-winning film based on the popular opera. 133 minutes. Cast:

Ying Huang: Cio-Cio-San
Richard Troxell: Pinkerton
Ning Liang: Suzuki
Richard Cowan: Sharpless
Jing Ma Fan: Goro
Christopheren Nòmura: Prince Yamadori
Constance Hauman: Kate Pinkerton

Customer Reviews:

Madam Butterfly -- the movie.......2007-05-13

The film rendition is beautiful, although visibly low budget. It is so difficult to translate the artificial settings of the opera to film, but this production succeeds very well. Cho cho San and Pinkerton are much more convincing in appearance than in most operatic productions, so I will probably be spoiled for any live productions in the future. The extra materials make it clear how their voices are so perfect throughout despite outdoor scenes and lots of wandering. Oh, the wonders of film! Yet, you are never aware of the lip-syncing.

My only criticism of this film is in the editing. It was unfortunate that in the interest of dramatic continuity some of the original music was edited out.

A SHAME I COULDN'T GIVE IT FIVE STARS.......2007-03-23

To me, this is the best presentation of Madame Butterfly. The singing is excellent and Miss Huang's portrayal of the tragic heroine is heart-breaking.The interior sets and outdoor photography are pleasing to see, and so are the costumes.What I didn't like has been said before. Why the director chose to have Butterfly's uncle crash the wedding celebration via the air like a character out of Crouching Tiger and Hidden Dragon is a great puzzlement to me. It jars the realism shown up to this point. The insertion of old Japanese martial film during the singing of the beautiful humming chorus is a terrible disservice to the music and the plot, not to mention the film's distraction to the viewer. Close your eyes at this point and concentrate on the lovely music. The omission of the orchestral interlude and bird songs from the waiting scene bothered me. One more small complaint. During the love duet at the end of the first act, the director has the singers sing facing front instead of to one another. This is practical in an opera house so the voices can be heard better, but in a film where the voices are recorded electronically, this is unnecessary. I would love to give this 5 stars, but I can't for the reasons cited.
But, Hey, 4 stars ain't chopped liver!

Two reservations.......2007-03-17

Ying Huang, especially, acts touchingly, but both she and Richard Troxell have, by operatic standards, disappointingly thin voices, although she modulates hers quite beautifully.

Unfortunately I stopped watching before the end after a gratuitous scene where a small bird in a tiny cage is tormented with a stick. I would like to think this was clever computer graphics, but I don't think so.

A long time coming........2007-01-19

This was the first time I experienced an Opera in full. I was fifteen (ten years ago...) and it has stuck with me ever since. It was, for me, the perfect choice for an introduction into this art. Other versions I own can be garish in both sight and sound. This production was melodic and made me into a lover of Opera. Very well done!

Amagnificent film.......2006-11-05

I agree with the previous reviewers that the only scene that stops me giving this a 5 star rating is the ludicrous appearance of the "wicked uncle" in the first Act. It is childish and totally inappropriate to a film that is otherwise so believable.

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