Can such a thing happen without knowing the gender of your lover?
"Mr. Butterfly", adapted from true events, tells us that sometimes, you may really not know whether you love "he" or "she"?
However, no matter whether it is a real event, a stage play or a movie, "Mr Butterfly" has a loophole that cannot be justified - Gao Renni and Song Liling have been together as husband and wife and have slept in the same bed for several years, but Gao Renni has never known "she" "Actually a man?
Although this incredible key point has aroused a lot of dissatisfaction and suspicion, it also made the film a little more intriguing-is it a person or an illusion that Gao Renni fell in love with?
Gao Renni and Song Liling's love is sincere and full of deceit, but the keynote of this relationship is that they end without a problem.
Under the superb performance of the actor Zunlong dressed as a woman, the charming and restrained "Song Liling" is fascinating and convincing, and the full devotion of the actor Irons also makes the audience at the same frequency as "Gao Renni" - believe him Love "Mrs. Butterfly".
The story of "Mr. Butterfly" seems absurd and ironic, but as the plot deepens, it is found that everything is reasonable, reflecting the weakness of human nature that it is easy to indulge and be deceived, and even voluntarily blind one's eyes and only love to see people in their own fantasies and things.
01. It is not only a game between men and women, but also a conflict between Chinese and Western cultures
When discussing the opera "Madame Butterfly", Gao Renni and Song Liling each represented the positions of China and the West, and tested each other's views on the strong and the weak, men and women, and Chinese and Western cultures.
After the first contact, Liling, a man disguised as a woman, has left an unforgettable back image for Renni, so when he went to the theater to watch "her"'s Peking Opera performance, at that moment, "she" on the stage had beautiful makeup and a smile. All amazed him.
Then, Liling talked to him through the semi-transparent curtain in the background, and the faint light fell on "her"'s delicate face - the part of lighting a cigarette in the dimness and looking down, "she" in the close-up, hazy And ambiguous, the eyes secretly release the taste of the soul.
Liling has been keeping track of the rhythm of the relationship between the two. When "she" asked Rennie, "Do oriental women have a certain degree of charm for white people?", it can be seen that Liling understands that she has successfully won his attention. It not only hides the temptation to him, but also implies some impressions of the West on the East.
Therefore, when Liling politely said "bye bye and contact us again", this was undoubtedly unfinished for Rennie, but he had no choice but to leave alone because of his etiquette and the image of a gentleman.
Therefore, under the design of Liling's refusal and welcome, they had an ambiguous period before "falling in love" - until a letter from Liling gave him a reason to "conquer her" at last.
Therefore, when their relationship began, Liling was only the object of Renni's extramarital affair. He called Liling "Mrs. Butterfly", emotionally, hoping that "she" would be like the Japanese woman in the opera: obedient, loyal, and unswerving. It reflects his subjective imagination of oriental women.
And when they came into close contact later, Liling deliberately misled Renni about the oriental sexuality. "She" insisted on being "dignified" in front of him, and not to be disheveled, and Renni respected Liling from the very beginning. request, so Rennie never saw "her" body until the truth came out.
This may seem bizarre, but it is logical for them. It not only contains Renni's vague understanding of oriental culture, but on the other hand, it reflects Renni's most respectful love for Liling.
02. Song Liling: A pretender who struggles inside
In addition to being an actress, Liling is also a spy, and "she" is a well-deserved master of disguise.
Since Liling was originally a role model, she is very good at women's body language. Even from a man's point of view, "she" is a charming woman.
Just like Liling's opinion on "Why do men play female roles in Peking Opera", because "men know women's reactions", Liling as a man can make Renni fall in love with her.
For example, "she"'s temptation to Renni, "why did she choose her breast like a man?" Renni's answer seems a bit blind and confident - he thinks that it is the characteristic of Liling's girly body, such as budding Flower, implying that he is the flower-picker, and is proud of it;
This is actually Liling's old trick, just like when they first met, Liling deliberately told him "I have never been with others", which also deeply satisfied his chauvinism. There was no doubt that "she" was not a woman.
But the excellent disguise is only Liling's means of making a living, and it cannot change the status quo of her low status and loneliness, so "she" has always lived at the bottom of the society and is a small person who is restrained by others;
And after being used by the country, Liling not only lost her freedom and self, but also after her contact with Rennie, her life became even more turbulent—leaving the stage, leaving her hometown because of her "pregnancy", being forced into labor as an actor, and going to France. Reunited with Jenni until his eventual repatriation.
Liling's ups and downs in life, from imitating women for professional needs, to imitating women for tasks, and then imitating women for Renni - this process progressively shows Liling's emotional changes towards Renni. More and more delicate, difficult to extricate themselves.
Therefore, since Liling has always been deceiving Renni, when she really falls in love with him, this emotional entanglement that cannot be sorted out is destined to end.
03. Gao Renni: Let "love" make yourself a joke
Bearing the title of a French diplomat, Galeni was nothing more than an accountant in the embassy.
His character is somewhat timid and weak, and when he is despised and excluded by his colleagues, he just wants to calm down, a typical ordinary person. However, when he was promoted and promoted, he was in high spirits for a while. With the few courage and arrogance, he asked Liling to be his "Mrs. Butterfly".
Through Rennie's views on the opera "Madame Butterfly", we know his views on oriental women: gentle and submissive, even if their husbands make a new love to ridicule and ridicule, oriental women will only show their determination to die and remain loyal to love.
"If a Western woman commits suicide for an Eastern man, you'll just think she's a fool... So what's moving about 'Mrs Butterfly' is the music, not the story itself."
Therefore, when Liling pointed out that he had a "looking down" attitude towards oriental women, Renni disagreed, and instead believed that Chinese people were arrogant.
Moreover, with the in-depth contact with Liling, Renni gained more self-confidence and self in "her", especially when he expressed some views on China to his boss, he directly regarded Liling's surrender to himself as a China's attitude towards Western countries:
"In their bones, they (China) are moving closer to us...but the Orientals have always succumbed to power."
On the surface, he expresses his opinion to his boss, but in reality, it reflects that he dominates Li Ling's emotions, inadvertently revealing the complacent complacency of a big man.
If Renni only wanted to have a dewy marriage with Liling at first, then when Liling gave birth to his child, Renni completely gave up on "her".
The child is the turning point of their relationship . When Liling appeared with the child in her arms, and after a short meeting and farewell with him, unable to hold back, he could only go to Liling's former residence to seek comfort, but the place had already changed beyond recognition, and he could not remember it.
So Rennie could only go back to China alone, and when he listened to the opera "Madame Butterfly" again, he could only miss Liling with tears; however, when Liling went to France to reunite with him, he thought that his perfect "love" was deceived. He even made him a national joke.
When Liling took off her disguise and appeared in front of him in a suit and leather shoes, his spirit and emotions collapsed.
04. Voiceover: Say something about "Cheng Dieyi" and "Song Liling"
Since "Mr. Butterfly" and "Farewell My Concubine" are works of the same period, there will always be people who compare them.
I have heard this saying: "Zunlong should regret missing the role of 'Cheng Dieyi'."
For some reason, Zunlong failed to participate in the filming of "Farewell My Concubine", and was hyped by some unscrupulous people, but I don't agree with the statement "missing and regretting".
"Cheng Dieyi" is certainly a classic, but "Song Liling" is not inferior. Except for the setting of "actor" and "falling in love with the same sex", I can't see other similarities between these two characters; so I can't deny it because "Cheng Dieyi" is brilliant internationally The hard work and dedication of "Song Liling".
Moreover, whether a movie can become famous, in addition to acting, script and modeling, etc., is inseparable from opportunities.
The reason why "The Butterfly King" is unknown in China is that one of the important factors is related to the film's distribution company. Although the film uses Chinese culture and Chinese people as the starting point of the story, the main battlefield for the film's release is overseas; It's the finishing touch, but it's not as particular as "Farewell My Concubine". It's only a single stroke, which is not enough to resonate too much, and the focus of the movie is on the "love" of the protagonist.
As for "Farewell My Concubine", it can be said to be in the right place at the right time. As soon as it was released at the time, it received a box office of 48 million in mainland China in 1993. In addition to the actors' acting skills, the story is cut into Peking Opera, depicting a person living in a play. Cheng Dieyi, who can't be loved, and the love story of Xiang Yu and Yu Ji, this "Wang Zha"-like combination has fundamentally attracted Chinese audiences.
Therefore, two films with completely different story content and character settings should not be compared at all, and their biased thoughts should not be too obvious.
All in all, even if he passed by "Cheng Dieyi", the actor Zun Long also made a flesh-and-blood "Song Liling".
Write at the end:
So, is Rennie a very deceitful and foolish man?
I don't know the small probability of the gender of the person next to me, but Rennie has become a representative of no one in the world.
However, in the years when he and Liling lived as husband and wife, he diligently assumed the responsibility of a husband and father.
But the truth is cruel. Renni's last imaginings and feelings for Liling ended in the moment when "she" exposed her body and regained her man's body - this late candor, late apology and truth, let the two Years of "love" seem embarrassing and false.
Renni once confirmed that he only loves women, but looking at Liling's male chest, he could only collapse and cry, he didn't understand why he had lived in a lie for so many years, and he couldn't tell who he had loved for so many years.
"Do you still love me even though I wear a suit and tie?"
"No...you don't look like my wife at all."
Looking at Liling who was very familiar with her, Renni finally realized in despair that what she fell in love with was just a woman in fantasy.
So, tortured by the truth, he wrote and directed a "Mrs. Butterfly" in prison;
He was full of irony and grief, those love and hatred that Liling could not tell, all followed his life to the end of his life.
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