Madame Butterfly is one of my favorite Operas. It is certainly Puccini's masterpiece, and Mitterand's movie adaptation does full justice to the Opera. The main characters are perfectly cast. Richard Troxell captures the full spectrum of the brashness and exuberance of his character, Pinkerton. Ying Huang exudes the sensitivity, vulnerability, and wisdom of the named protagonist. The movie gives a richness and realness to Japan that no operatic production is able to do. All the main characters are themselves operatic singers.
Fondly enough, the greatest innovation of this movie are the English subtitles. The subtitles are fresh, modern translations. Prior librettos had always been in stilted, posh, English, leaving the listener to only guess at the plot while enjoying the music. The modern English subtitles of this movie leave little doubt as to what is really going on here.
Yes, it is a love story between an American officer and a Japanese geisha. The actual, real, dialogue, spoken with its blunt honesty, coupled with the superb secondary performances (mainly, the Middleman, Goro), portray the whole Madame Butterfly story as a lurid, depraved example of human trafficking. Pinkerton is young, brash, energetic, and clearly relishing Japan. He makes it very clear from the beginning that he has no intention of staying faithful after marriage to MB and enters his marriage with the clear intention of leaving MB for the United States to marry there, and he sees nothing wrong with that. Huang perfectly plays the vulnerable MB. However, as she states about her life, she was forced to became a geisha because her parents died and she had no other place to go. To make matters worse, she is fifteen years old, and has a son from a husband who left her. You get the impression MB is a geisha because she had no other option to survive.
A geisha you might ask? There is misconception that all geishas are sex workers. Historically, they were not considered to be sex workers, but whose function is to "entertain" men. "Entertaining" consists of being able to carry on a informed conversation-geishas were educated women---play musical instruments, and serving food and drink. Of course, the sex part sometimes, but necessarily always, came into it.
The movie clarifies the role of the Middleman, Goro. This is how he was described in older translations-"middle man," "match-maker," fairly benign. The Goro in this movie is a sinister and conniving. He is not just a match-maker or middleman; he is in the business of selling flesh, if not for "entertainment" purposes. Jingma Fan, who pays Goro, gives new life to the whole MB story. Goro is in the business in selling geishas to his clients. Pinkerton pays Goro to marry MB. The entire transaction is nothing more than a glorified run-of-mill sex trafficking case.
Put all these pieces together changes the entire story. Pinkerton exploits and disrespects MB and gets off Scott free. He is like so many overseas American servicemen you occasionally hear run into problems with the local womenfolk. The tragedy of this story is that MB commits suicide. MB is a Universal symbol of victimized, objectivized, women. Goro is, not a march-maker or middleman, let's face it, he is a sex trafficker. Mitterand's movie presents MB as both a passionate love story and a sordid tale of sex exploitation.
Fondly enough, the greatest innovation of this movie are the English subtitles. The subtitles are fresh, modern translations. Prior librettos had always been in stilted, posh, English, leaving the listener to only guess at the plot while enjoying the music. The modern English subtitles of this movie leave little doubt as to what is really going on here.
Yes, it is a love story between an American officer and a Japanese geisha. The actual, real, dialogue, spoken with its blunt honesty, coupled with the superb secondary performances (mainly, the Middleman, Goro), portray the whole Madame Butterfly story as a lurid, depraved example of human trafficking. Pinkerton is young, brash, energetic, and clearly relishing Japan. He makes it very clear from the beginning that he has no intention of staying faithful after marriage to MB and enters his marriage with the clear intention of leaving MB for the United States to marry there, and he sees nothing wrong with that. Huang perfectly plays the vulnerable MB. However, as she states about her life, she was forced to became a geisha because her parents died and she had no other place to go. To make matters worse, she is fifteen years old, and has a son from a husband who left her. You get the impression MB is a geisha because she had no other option to survive.
A geisha you might ask? There is misconception that all geishas are sex workers. Historically, they were not considered to be sex workers, but whose function is to "entertain" men. "Entertaining" consists of being able to carry on a informed conversation-geishas were educated women---play musical instruments, and serving food and drink. Of course, the sex part sometimes, but necessarily always, came into it.
The movie clarifies the role of the Middleman, Goro. This is how he was described in older translations-"middle man," "match-maker," fairly benign. The Goro in this movie is a sinister and conniving. He is not just a match-maker or middleman; he is in the business of selling flesh, if not for "entertainment" purposes. Jingma Fan, who pays Goro, gives new life to the whole MB story. Goro is in the business in selling geishas to his clients. Pinkerton pays Goro to marry MB. The entire transaction is nothing more than a glorified run-of-mill sex trafficking case.
Put all these pieces together changes the entire story. Pinkerton exploits and disrespects MB and gets off Scott free. He is like so many overseas American servicemen you occasionally hear run into problems with the local womenfolk. The tragedy of this story is that MB commits suicide. MB is a Universal symbol of victimized, objectivized, women. Goro is, not a march-maker or middleman, let's face it, he is a sex trafficker. Mitterand's movie presents MB as both a passionate love story and a sordid tale of sex exploitation.
