"Did you know that the Chinese hate Madam Butterfly?' With two quotes from Jeremy Irons (an actor whom most people either love or despise, even those who think that he's one of the best), you know that he's going to somehow become become involved in a plot similar to that opera, especially after he's told off by an opera star for fantasizing about being the American in Madame Butterfly plot. It doesn't help that the movie going on against already knows that the person playing this character is actually a man, John Lone, who won great acclaim for "The Last Emperor" and "The Moderns". The moment that I saw Lone onscreen, any doubt that I tried to suspend that he could pass as a woman disappeared as there are just far too many elements of his physical look that are not feminine in any way.
There's also the voice, lemon puckered and on a low register that while not completely masculine is downright foolish to be considered acceptable as a woman's, especially one who is supposed to be a great opera diva soprano. Lone, fully made up, is certainly stunning, and I can see why some men could be attracted to him living as a woman. But they would have to know what they are getting. In the confines of a play, the audience might be able to suspend some belief, but it does not work on the big screen.
As a film, it is stunning to look at and there are definitely some elements of mystery as well as eroticism. Irons plays one of his most gentle characters, and it's great to see him escape from the Klaus Von Bulow image. I certainly like him in this more than the same year's "Damage". This is just one of many Broadway plays critically acclaimed when it was first presented that probably could not be done convincingly on screen. As a Cronenberg film, it's probably one of the most watchable, and perhaps one of the few films that didn't make me feel like I needed a shower afterwards. But I didn't buy the affair in any way or the betrayal, or the downfall.
There's also the voice, lemon puckered and on a low register that while not completely masculine is downright foolish to be considered acceptable as a woman's, especially one who is supposed to be a great opera diva soprano. Lone, fully made up, is certainly stunning, and I can see why some men could be attracted to him living as a woman. But they would have to know what they are getting. In the confines of a play, the audience might be able to suspend some belief, but it does not work on the big screen.
As a film, it is stunning to look at and there are definitely some elements of mystery as well as eroticism. Irons plays one of his most gentle characters, and it's great to see him escape from the Klaus Von Bulow image. I certainly like him in this more than the same year's "Damage". This is just one of many Broadway plays critically acclaimed when it was first presented that probably could not be done convincingly on screen. As a Cronenberg film, it's probably one of the most watchable, and perhaps one of the few films that didn't make me feel like I needed a shower afterwards. But I didn't buy the affair in any way or the betrayal, or the downfall.