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: #13322 in DVD
• Released on: 2002-02-26
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, 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

my favorite "beginners" opera
This delightful DVD has helped me win over a few opera converts. I found it to be visually pleasing and simplistic which in my opinion is a plus. Also Huang brings authenticity to a role so commonly filed with...less believable leads...Not to mention her voice! A must for those new to the opera community, or those wishing to introduce it to others.

Outstanding production.
Asin BOOOOF39MA6.
This is an outstanding video. To take excellent singers from Asia and America made sense in this opera .Ying Huang was very convincing as Butterfly, she is a very sensitive singer and actress as well as Richard Troxell as Pinkerton especially the transformation of his character from the first act and the third. The rest of the cast was excellent, very beautiful scenery and very good sound..
I found some of the Japanese's scenes from the beginning of the century in the opening of the third act with the intermezzo music to be gorgeous .I am very glad to have selected this DVD among all selections that I had.

Madame Butterfly
Puccini - Madame Butterfly / Huang, Troxell I absolutely enjoyed watching this beautiful production. Having this DVD will allow me to watch it over and over. I highly recommend this.