Product 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

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11734 in DVD
• Brand: Sony
• Released on: 2002-02-26
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: Italian
• Subtitled in: Chinese, English, Portuguese, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 134 minutes

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

Customer Reviews

Cheers for F. Mitterrand
When considering the characteristics of opera, it naturally follows that the genre would be difficult to film. Not so for Mitterrand with his Madame Butterfly; from casting to direction to filming, Mitterrand wins. The title role must do far more than "look Asian," she must also live the role...even more so when being filmed as "Butterfly." Ying Huang proves herself a sensitive and sensible actress as well as a singer with an expressive and powerful voice. Richard Troxell as "B. F. Pinkerton" shines in his role, allowing the callousness of his character clash with an accidental love. Troxell uses the flexibility of the film medium to act as many opera singers seem unable to do upon finding themselves on a stage. In fact, the power of this video lies in the fact that the singers realize that they have the opportunity to be better actors than they could be in a staged version of the same work. There are retakes, more natural positions, beautiful scenery, and an amazing acoustic, even when outdoors! All in all,it is a fine work by Frederic Mitterand, Huang, Troxell, Cowan ("Sharpless"), Liang ("Suzuki"), and the rest. None of the roles had less than an accomplished actor and singer; even the role of "Kate Pinkerton" played by Constance Hauman was rendered with a delicate hand aware of a conflicting position and an involuntary hostility. Enjoyable for the everyday opera viewer as a fresh, beautiful feast for the eye and ear, and a first-rate film for the opera newcomer.

PUCCINI'S BUTTERFLY MORE BEAUTIFUL ON FILM
Martin Scorsese's cinematography is utterly unparralleled in his filming of the beautiful Puccini opera "Madame Butterfly". It is with a reserved caution that I say it surpasses any staged version of the opera I have ever seen! I say that cautiously so as not to offend those die-hard traditionalists, myself having been one. Scorsese transports us to an authentic Japan and his photography captures all of the intricate details and beauty for the setting of one of the worlds most beautiful stories. The film is so real that one is truly moved to tears by the end and emotionally overwhelmed. The mixed cast of both Asian and Western singers makes it even more beliebable. Soprano Ying Huang sings and acts delicately the fragile geisha who will wed the American lieutenant Pinkerton, sung by American Richard Troxell. Both are aptly cast in the film and compliment one another. Ying Huang plays the child-like Butterfly accurately as the composer would have intended. Troxell is handsome, charming and plays well the role of a not so nice character, leading Butterfly to believe he will one day return to Japan and take her back to America. He's so charming, in fact, that at times one feels he may have a change of heart along the way. From the beginning of the film with the torii standing in the Nagasaki harbor through the duration of the film, much in the leased 100 year paper and wood house built for Butterfly, one experiences many visual nuances. Scorsese can even film the softness of a breeze blowing at sundown through the house, captured by flowers moving in the dimming sunlight in a vase. The only fault I can find with the film, and it's considerable enough to detract from the overall experience, is the very unrealistic Bonze flying down from the sky at the end of the wedding ceremony. It looked somewhat foolish, considering the rest was unprecedented. Of the many filmed scenes, one that was effectively done was at the end of the opera, where Scorsese created a bad thunderstorm around the time Butterfly committed hara-kari and just at the time Kate and Sharpless pulled up in a carriage in the pouring rain to have Suzuki push the child out of the house and picked up by the Americans to be returned with his father to the States. Lastly, the cowardly Pinkerton runs into the house hoping to once more see Butterfly, but rather finds her dead on the floor. Scorsese captures the intense awkwardness and ambivalence of this moment that closes the film. In my review, I've talked little about the music or the voices. Puccini's music was sung convincingly by the cast and particularly Ying Huang and Richard Troxell, who both had great acting ability as well. But the true essence of this production was the filming and Scorsese's ability to capture so many delicate moments through the use of cinema. Please do yourself a favor and watch this beautiful opera, but rather on film as an alternate to the stage. Highly highly recommended!

Absolutely Stunning
This review refers to the Deluxe Widescreen DVD presentation of "Madame Butterfly" (Columbia/Tri-Star)

Frédéric Mitterrand has done a wonderful job of bringing this heartwrenching opera to film. I found myself deeply lost in the emotional story, the music, the voices and the cinematography for the entire 2 hours and 15 minutes.

Filmed in Italian, Mitterrand uses Asian and Western opera singers/actors, to bring the true sense of Giacomo Puccini's tale of a young Japanese woman's deep and unending love for the American soldier, who married her for a short time of passion and then left her under the guise of returning in the Spring to take her back to America. Butterfly gives up all that is sacred to her; her religion, her traditions, and is even shunned by her family, in the belief that her love will someday return to her. She waits years, each day hoping this will be the one her love returns to her.

Soprano Ying Huang, as Butterfly, will mesmerize you with her stunning beauty and lovely voice. You will get lost in her songs of love and anguish. Richard Troxell is a strong Lt. Pinkerton, as the husband who loves and leaves, only to return and realize the pain he has caused. Ning Liang and Richard Cowen add their wonderful voices to the film as well.

If you are a fan of this opera, you will delight in the screenplay (David Belasco), that makes a beautiful transition from stage to film. It's a film that will open the door and hearts to anyone new to the emotions of opera, and will immediatley make new fans of the genre.

The DVD is presented in widescreen, with an excellent Anamorphic picture. Subtitles give the choice of English, Spanish Portuguese,Chinese or Thai(oddly enough, no Japanese subtitles). There is a making of featurette and scene selections. The Dolby Surround sound is clear and fulfilling.

An absolutely stunning production...enjoy...Laurie

also recommended:Le Nozze Di Figaro (Staatskapelle Berlin)