Purple Butterfly
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| Purple Butterfly | |
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 Theatrical poster for Purple Butterfly's American release |
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| Directed by | Lou Ye |
| Produced by | Lou Ye Wang Wei Zhu Yongde |
| Written by | Lou Ye |
| Starring | Zhang Ziyi Liu Ye Tôru Nakamura Li Bingbing |
| Music by | Jörg Lemberg |
| Cinematography | Wang Yu |
| Editing by | Lou Ye Che Xiaohong |
| Distributed by | Palm Pictures |
| Release date(s) | Cannes: May 22, 2003 United States: November 26, 2004 |
| Running time | 127 min. |
| Language | Mandarin Japanese |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Purple Butterfly (Chinese: 紫蝴蝶; pinyin: Zǐ Húdié) is a 2003 Chinese film, directed by Lou Ye. It is Lou's third film after Weekend Lover and Suzhou River. It stars Chinese mainland actors, Zhang Ziyi, Liu Ye and Li Bingbing, as well as Japanese actor Tôru Nakamura. The film premiered on May 23, 2003 at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival, and was given a limited release in New York City the following year on November 26, 2004.
The film was only released in one theater in the United States (in New York City) for three weeks where it grossed $17,790.[1]
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[edit] Plot
Ding Hui, also called Cynthia, (Zhang Ziyi) and a Japanese student, Itami (Tôru Nakamura) have fallen in love in Japanese controlled Manchukuo prior to the war when Itami is forced to return to Japan.
Years later, in Shanghai, Szeto (Liu Ye) and Tang Yiling (Li Bingbing) have fallen in love. Cynthia has also returned to Shanghai now as a member of Purple Butterfly, a powerful resistance group against the Japanese occupation, led by Xie Ming (Feng Yuanzheng). After a case of mistaken identity and a shootout at a railroad station that leaves Yiling dead, Szeto finds himself an unexpected pawn in the battle between former lovers Cynthia and Itami who has also come to Shanghai, now as a member of the Japanese secret police unit tasked with dismantling Purple Butterfly.
[edit] Cast
- Zhang Ziyi as Cynthia/Ding Hui
- Tôru Nakamura as Hidehiko Itami
- Liu Ye as Szeto
- Feng Yuanzheng as Xie Ming
- Li Bingbing as Tang Yiling
- Kin Ei as Yamamoto
[edit] Reception
With the success of Lou's previous film, Suzhou River (2000), Purple Butterfly was an anticipated follow up with a considerably larger budget. The film however did less well with critics than its predecessor. Rotten Tomatoes records a 45% "rotten" rating with a slightly better "Cream of the Crop" rating of 50%.[2]
Most critics saw the film as technically masterful but a case where style had trumped substance. In particular the film's labyrinthine and difficult to follow plot was pointed to as a major point of complaint.
[edit] References
- ^ Purple Butterfly (2004). Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on 2007-08-10.
- ^ Purple Butterfly. Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved on 2007-08-10.
[edit] External links
- Purple Butterfly at the Internet Movie Database
- Purple Butterfly at Allmovie
- Purple Butterfly at Rotten Tomatoes
- Purple Butterfly at the Chinese Movie Database
- Purple Butterly at MonkeyPeaches
- Purple Butterly at HelloZiyi.us
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