Original subtitles

The expense reports from Intelligence.

I don't believe it. Did they give you any trouble?

No,not at all.

"Documentation attached."

Well,I couldn't be happier.

So how are you settling in?

Well,fine.

Fine.

The apartment's a bit earnest and Sovietic,

but it's very comfortable.

Yes,well,we all have the same furniture,you know.

It comes from one small factory in Clermont-Ferrand.

Oh,my God.

Things certainly are different here.

You find it different from your days with Renault,do you?

Well,yes,I do.

You know,never mind the license to kill

those boys certainly have a license to spend money.

Well,at least it breaks the routine.

Yeah.

I started in transportation this morning.

Good.

I'm up to 57 windshield wiper blades in the past six months.

Fifty-seven?

What are they driving through,sulfuric acid?

I expect it's all the locals,

spitting on the windscreens.

Oh,my God,

is it the Swedish or the Swiss Embassy holding this soiré

-Swedish? -I think is the Swiss.

No,no,no,you're...No,you're right,is definitely the Swedish.

Well,then,we're over here.

What are they planning to inflict on us tonight?

Not those Chinese acrobats again,I hope.

There's a limit to the times I can watch a man

trying to get his leg around the back of his neck.

Oh,Frau Baden says there's going to be an opera performance.

Is there some diva passing through town?

No,it's a local singer.

We're going to hear excerpts from Madama Butterfly.

I'm embarrassed to admit I'd never seen Madame Butterfly.

Really?

Don't tell anyone though.

I've got one or two people around here

thinking I'm profoundly cultured.

She will fall in love with an American sailor.

A big mistake.

Why is that?

He will marry her,but he's not serious.

Her American sailor has now left her.

He's not coming back.

Mademoiselle Song is very striking,yes?

But she simply has no voice.

There she is. Excuse me.

Wonderful performance.

Thank you very much. I really enjoyed it.

She's so wonderful,isn't she?

Oh,she's a nice lady.

Mademoiselle Song.

It was a beautiful performance.

Thank you.

I've always seen opera singers as

overweight ladies in too much bad makeup.

Bad makeup is now unique to the West.

I've never seen a performance as convincing as yours.

Convincing?

Me,as a Japanese woman?

Did you know the Japanese used thousands of our people

for medical experiments during the war?

But I gather such an irony is lost on you.

No,no,what l...What I meant was,

you made me see the beauty of the story.

Of her death.

It's...

It's pure sacrifice.

He's not worthy of it,but what can she do?

She loves him so much.

It's very beautiful.

Well,yes,

to a Westerner.

I beg your pardon?

It's one of your favorite fantasies,isn't it?

The submissive Oriental woman and the cruel white man.

l... I don't think so.

Consider it this way.

What would you say if a blond cheerleader fell in love with a

short Japanese businessman?

He marries her and then goes home for three years

during which time she prays to his picture

and turns down marriage from a young Kennedy?

Then when she learns her husband has remarried,

she kills herself.

Now,I believe you would consider

this girl to be a deranged idiot,

correct?

But because it's an Oriental

who kills herself for a Westerner,

you find her beautiful.

Yes. Well,I see your point.

The point is,

it's the music,

not the story,

Monsieur?

Gallimard.

René Gallimard

If you wish to see some great theater

come to the Beijing Opera sometime.

And further your education.

You know,

the Chinese are an incredibly arrogant people.

They warned us in Paris about it,remember?

Hmm. There's a switch.

Parisians calling the Chinese arrogant.

There's no use fussing about it.

Whenever I see one of them

blowing his nose onto the pavement

I always remember what my father said.

"East is East and West is West,

and never the twain shall meet."

And then I feel much better.

So tell me

did you get a chance to meet Lars Hammer's new wife?

Oh,no.

You know,

she's the one really running that embassy these days.

Sorry.

I hear she's quite homely.

I left early.

Oh,dear,are you coming down with this cold too?

No,I'm fine. It's just...

Well,

it's silly,but

I met

the Chinese equivalent of a diva.

She's a singer with the Peking Opera.

Oh,where they sing like cats wailing?

She sang the death scene from Madame Butterfly.

Actually,is a funny thing about Chinese.

It sounds more like singing

when they're just speaking normally.

Do you know that the Chinese hate Madame Butterfly?

She hated it,but she performed it anyway?

They hate it because the white man gets the girl.

Sour grapes,if you ask me.

Why can't they just see it

as a piece of beautiful music?

Thank you.

Hello. Um.

Theater.

Sorry,I don't get it.

Um,opera.

Oh,opera!

Over there,right at the corner.

Oh,thank you.

You're welcome.

the Drunken Beauty

Bravo!

Spirits,Your Majesty

What's its name?

Long-feng

What is meant by it?

I'm done. It's your shifts now.

Gotta catch my breath.

I'm done.

Buddy,a foreigner!

Hey buddy,it's a foreigner!

Put it over here.

Monsieur Gallimard,

come in.

You knew I was in the audience.

It was easy to spot you.

So you are

an adventurous imperialist.

Well,I thought it was time to

continue our education.

Congratulations.

It only took you three weeks.

I've been busy.

Well,education has always been undervalued in the West,

hasn't it?

I wouldn't say that.

No,of course you wouldn't.

After all,

how can you objectively judge your own values?

I think is possible to achieve a little distance.

Do you?

Be a gentleman,will you,and light my cigarette?

The Oriental woman has always held a certain fascination

for you Caucasian men. Is that not true?

Yes.

But that fascination is imperialist.

Or so you tell me.

Yes.

It is always imperialist.

But sometimes

Sometimes it is also mutual.

This is my home.

Come another time

and we will continue the process of education.

Hello.

Hello.

What...

What are you doing?

Are you asking what they're for?

Feeding birds.

Young dragonflies

which cannot fly now.

They sleeps near the water.

At dawn,they will...

Do you like it?

Keep it as a souvenir.

Thank you.

Oh,I had the most amazing dream.

I'm surprised you had the time to dream at all.

When did you get in last night,anyway?

Oh,I went to the,

uh,Koenig's.

You know what's it like when they get in a new shipment of beer.

I shan't go back there in a hurry.

Hello.

Um...Song Liling?

Please come in,she's waiting for you.

That is my father.

It was very good that he did not live to see the revolution.

They would,no doubt,have made him kneel on broken glass.

Not that he didn't deserve such a punishment.

But he was my father.

I would have hated to see it happen.

you go to busy bar.

There is an element of danger to your presence.

You must know that.

It doesn't concern me.

It doesn't concern me either.

Well,perhaps.

I am slightly afraid of scandal.

What are we doing is scandalous?

I'm entertaining you in my parlor.

Where I come from that would hardly be construed as...

You come from France.

France is a country living in the modern era.

Perhaps even ahead of it.

China is a nation whose soul is

firmly rooted 2000 years in the past.

What I do,

even...

pouring the tea for you now

it has implications.

Please,go.

Please.

Monsieur Gallimard.

I never invited a man to my home before.

The forwardness of my actions makes my skin burn.

Please,go now.

If I go now,

what assurance will you have that I'll ever return?

You are cruel.

René

Shall we skip the Frisches' party?

No,you mistake the whole situation.

You're not going to bore me with political talk now,aren't you?

It's most important that you don't worry about it.

Me,worry?

The Chinese masses have accepted Communism

but they're used to following their warlords

No,it would never work.

Don't waste your time even thinking about Frau Baden.

That woman's built like the Forbidden City.

Everyone can look,but no one gets inside.

I'm sorry,am I disturbing something?

Listen.

We have to say,we're not at all pleased with

the way you've been sending back our expenses

for further documentation.

Well,I'm sorry to hear that.

Because I found

two more questionable items tonight.

Is there something you're trying to prove?

It's not a case of trying to prove anything,I'm just doing my job.

I mean,if you

If you really thought you could get away with your indiscretions forever

well,then,you were mistaken.

You listen to me. You're nobody. You're worse than nobody.

You're an accountant.

If you're not careful

we'll break all your pencils in half.

I used to play with my father.

You did?

Yes.

Was he a choirmaster?

Ha,no.

we were living for a while in India.

Was it Punjab?

Yes,how did you know?

Well,I've been to Ceylon.

Oh,really?

But China is quite a transition,isn't it?

Yeah,do you miss Paris as much as I do?

To tell you the truth,I don't even have the time.

We're still unpacking. I have

things to do. And...

It's really,really very different.

I'm still trying to figure out,you know,what the...

Did we fight?

I do not know.

Is the opera no longer of interest to you?

Please,come back.

My audiences miss the white devil in their midst.

It has been six weeks since we last met.

And still I have not heard from you.

Sometimes,I hate you.

Sometimes,I hate myself.

But always,

I seem to miss you.

Your rudeness is beyond belief.

Don't bother to call.

I'll have you turned away at the door.

René

René,I think we've looked at that diversion we were...

I am out of words.

I can hide behind dignity no longer.

What more do you want?

I have already given you my shame.

Look,if you're so certain I'm overstepping my bounds,then fine.

Take it up with Ambassador Toulon for all I care.

Funny,I already have.

Monsieur Gallimard.

The ambassador has been trying to locate you for the past half hour.

The ambassador?

Look,Gallimard,

there's not much to say.

I've liked you from the day you arrived.

You were no leader,but you were tidy and efficient.

Thank you,sir.

Don't jump the gun.

But over these past few months I don't know how is happened.

You've become this new aggressive,overconfident thing.

The reports I've been getting on you

Well,sir,l... I...

Well,I take my job,uh...

I take it seriously.

Well,well.

You see,

our needs here in China are changing.

It's still an embarrassment that we lost Indochina.

We are going to be doing a lot more

intelligence gathering in the future.

Some people

are just going to have to go.

Vice Consul LeBon

is being transferred,

as is most of his staff.

Sir,if there's,um...

But not you.

Not me?

Scared you?

Mm. I think I did.

Cheer up,Gallimard.

I want you to replace LeBon as vice consul.

I need a new man to coordinate

a revamped intelligence division.

Paris is demanding something more than the same old photos

showing Chinese cadres screwing peasant girls in the rice paddies.

And if anyone can shake those boys up,

it's you.

You already have.

So

Congratulations,Gallimard.

Thank you,sir.

Don't come here again!

This's not your place!

I'll kick your ass if you don't piss off.

Mademoiselle Song?

Piss off,WHITE DEVIL!

This white devil broke into...

It's alright,go to sleep.

WHITE DEVIL

Are you mad?

Coming here at this hour?

I've been promoted.

To vice consul.

And what is that supposed to mean to me?

I came tonight for an answer.

Are you my Butterfly?

What are you saying?

Are you my Butterfly?

Don't you know already?

I want you to say it.

I don't want to say it.

I do know one thing.

I have already given you my shame.

Don't.

It's enough that I even wrote it.

If you admit that,

why not answer my question?

I don't want to.

Are you my Butterfly?

I want honesty.

No falseness between us.

No false pride.

Yes,

I am your Butterfly.

René,please.

Gentle here.

I've never...

Never?

René,please let me keep my clothes on.

It all frightens me.

Modesty is so important to the Chinese.

My little treasure.

I don't want to be cruel.

I want to teach you.

Gently.

I know now,that we embark

on the most forbidden of loves.

I'm just so afraid of my destiny.

There is no destiny.

Except the one we make for ourselves.

You think because we live in houses with electricity

that we are suddenly Westerners?

The Chinese are an ancient people.

We cling to the old ways of life

and love.

Though inexperienced,

I'm not ignorant.

They teach us things,

our mothers

about pleasing a man.

Clearly,I have a great deal to learn.

Should you refuse to help me learn it,of course,

we'll be constantly at odds with one another.

but I would ask you,please,to bear one thing in mind.

Our world is changing.

We French lost our war in Indochina

because we failed

to learn about the people we sought to lead.

It's natural,therefore,

correct,even

that they should resent us.

How could they do otherwise

when we refuse to treat them like fellow human beings?

René

There is a mystery

you must clarify for me.

What mystery?

With your pick of Western women

why did you choose a poor Chinese

with a chest like a boy?

Not like a boy,like a

girl. Like a

young,innocent schoolgirl

waiting for her lessons.

There's an old Chinese proverb which says

To waste teaching on a girl is just like tossing rice into the wind.

The Chinese men,they keep women down.

What,even in the New Society?

In the New Society,we are all kept ignorant equally.

That's one of the exciting things about loving a Western man.

I know you're not threatened

by your slave's education.

Mm. Certainly not.

Especially when my slave

has so much to teach me.

Tomorrow afternoon,at 17:00 hours

we will detonate six atom bombs over the Forbidden City.

That's the last of the bugs,sir.

That should give those Reds a thing or two to worry about.

Thank you.

You remember the Americans,don't you?

Since they don't have an embassy here,

they've asked us to be their eyes and ears.

Say Lyndon Johnson signed an order to bomb North Vietnam,Laos

how would the Chinese react

Well,they'd squawk.

But,you know,in their hearts,the Chinese don't even like Ho Chi Minh.

Deep down,

they're attracted to us.

They find our ways

exciting.

Of course,they'd never admit it.

But the Oriental will always submit to the greater force.

So if the Americans demonstrate the will to win,

the Vietnamese...Mark my words,they will welcome them into a

mutually beneficial union.

You really believe that?

Sir,with all due respect,

you don't really think those little men could have beaten us

without our unconscious consent,do you?

There are fewer things I understand than I care to admit.

That's why I have men like you.

I'll note your opinions in my report.

The Americans always love to hear how welcome they are.

Comrade

Comrade Chin.

Forgive me,I didn't expect you.

Trash.

Decadent trash.

He's begun to tell me about Vietnam.

The Americans plan to increase troop strength to

170,000 soldiers

with 120,000 militia

and 11,000 advisers.

Don't you understand

how degrading those images are to women?

And why do you have to behave this way when he is not even here?

Comrade,

in order to better serve the great proletarian state,

I practice my deception as often as possible.

I despise this costume.

Yet,for the sake of our great helmsman,

I will endure it.

along with all the other bourgeois Western perversions.

I am not convinced that this will be enough to

redeem you in the eyes of the party.

I'm trying my best

to become somebody else.

So I say to the Americans,Diem must go.

I mean,the U.S. Wants to be respected by the Vietnamese,

and there they are propping up this

seminarian

nonentity as a president.

A man whose only claim to fame is his sister-in-law.

A woman who imposes fanatical moral order campaigns.

The Oriental woman,

when she's good

she's very,very,very good.

But when she's bad,she's Christian.

Still playing the missionary,are you,Gallimard?

Or...

Are there other positions that interest you as well?

You seem awfully shy,Gallimard.

Don't say this is the first time that you're doing this.

Well,

you could call it my first

extra extramarital affair.

I called room service for a bottle of wine,but I think they probably...

Don't you think we have had enough to drink for tonight?

Well...

You look

exactly as I imagined you would under your clothes.

What did you expect?

So

Come and get it.

Coming,wait.

Damn it! You white devile,how could you

You knocked at the door at this hour

I'll kick your ass.

You've been drinking.

I've missed you.

You don't expect me to give up my career for you?

Of course not.

I am your slave.

Slave?!

You toss words like that around as if you really meant them.

But I do.

Well,let's test this obedience of yours.

Take your clothes off.

Come on.

I'm a man.

I want to see you naked.

But I thought you understood my modesty.

I thought you respected my shame.

I believe you gave me your shame some time ago.

And it is just like a white devil

to use it against me.

White devil,so?

I'm no longer your lord and master.

So your obedience has limits,i see

Why are you treating me like this?

Because all this rubbish

about me being faithful

and good to you and

Well,I'm not

what you think I am.

Even the softest skin

becomes like leather

to a man who's touched it too often.

I confess.

I do not know how to stop it.

I do not know how to change my body into the body of another.

Come.

Strip me.

Our love,

in your hands.

I'm helpless before you.

René,

I'm pregnant.

What?

I'm pregnant.

Oh,Butterfly.

I've betrayed you in so many ways,

but I'll love you.

I'll rescue you. And save you,and

protect you

You have.

Tonight,

my beautiful master.

Believe me,

you have saved my life.

Where are you going?

A ticket to Chengde

Um,Chengde.

30 cents,please.

That's it.

Your ticket.

Thank you.

Where are you going?

I wish I were coming with you.

Dream of me

and of your son.

I will return with him from my parents' village,

when he is 3 months old as is our custom.

I've told you I'll be perfectly happy with a daughter.

I am certain

it will be a son.

I need a baby.

A Chinese baby with blond hair.

This is wonderful talk. You really are mad.

Trading babies?

The ministry will never approve such a thing.

Fine.

You tell the ministry we can no longer provide them

any more information on American troop movements in Vietnam.

I've done my best.

Tell them you personally have decided

the revolution is not worth any more sacrifice.

I'll wait here.

We will struggle with this in committee.

Comrade.

Why,in Beijing opera,are women's roles traditionally played by men?

I don't know.

Most probably a remnant of

- the reactionary and patriarchal social structure. - No

It's because only a man knows

how a woman is supposed to act.

The red glow of the sun settles on me.

In short,gentlemen,the report stresses that:

The fanatical student movement known as the Red Guard

has emerged as a genuinely potent reactionary political force

which will seize upon any excuse

to justify the expulsion of all foreigners from China.

It is,therefore,incumbent upon all Western diplomatic personnel

to maintain the lowest possible profile.

Gachot,

that means no more dim sum in Fuxingmen District.

René

Butterfly.

I promised you a son.

You see?

Your son.

Look.

Oh,my God.

He's so beautiful.

Oh,Butterfly.

What you've done for me.

I've thought about this over and over while you were away.

I swore to God,

if you came back safely,

I'd never let you go again.

I want you to marry me,Butterfly.

I want us to live together.

I want to...I'll take you to Paris.

I can't marry you,René

Is all right,I'll divorce my wife. I can get you out of China.

I can't.

Why?

I'm so sorry.

The Red Guards now say all artists are criminals.

I had to beg them for just a few moments.

Promise me:

Never forget

what our love has brought to life.

Butterfly.

René,

whatever happens

the days I spent with you

were the only days I ever truly existed.

Farewell.

Not if you examine them carefully. No,I don't think is likely to happen at all.

Don't you?

Don't you really?

- Morning. - Morning.

Back to the abacus.

It's nothing personal.

I'm being sent home because I was wrong

about the American war.

Of course not.

We don't care about the Americans. We care about your mind,

the quality of your analysis.

All right.

You said China would open up to Western trade.

The only thing they're likely to trade out there are Western heads.

And,yes,uh,you said the Americans

would succeed in Vietnam.

You were kidding,right?

You are all here because you do not know

how to dig into the flinty soil of China

and discover its revolutionary future.

We shall teach you how to dig.

You are all here because you are artists,

writers and intellectuals

and therefore,are the enemies of the great cultural revolution.

We shall rehabilitate you

and teach you how to serve the revolution.

You are all here

because you have alienated yourselves from the people.

We shall redeem you and send you back

to serve the New Society which you have abandoned.

You are all here because you represent the four O's

Old thoughts,old culture,

old customs and old habits.

Hard labor will cleanse you of these evils

and transform you into citizens of the future.

You shall now meditate

as you work on today's quotation from Chairman Mao.

When I left China,

everything

fell apart.

I live alone now.

One more round for my friend.

In China,it was different.

I was different.

Why,sure. You were white.

No,it was her.

It was her.

Goddamn it.

Must be those fucking students again.

Talk about China.

I'll bet if you go out that door,you'll think you're back in Beijing.

Every damn leftist student in Paris

has Mao's Little Red Book in his hand,and a red firecracker up his ass.

They're all playing at being

Chinese Communists with white skin.

René

Butterfly?

Please forgive me.

After all these years

I have no right to even hope that

you might remember.

Butterfly.

I knew you'd come.

But where's your wife?

She's here.

She's right here in my arms.

Monsieur Gallimard,

I am Henri Etancelin of Domestic Intelligence.

Will you please come with us?

That was 1968 when I arrived in Paris.

For the next two years,

I lived a very comfortable life.

I did some demonstrations around the country

as part of my cultural exchange cover.

And the spying?

Not much at first.

René has lost all his high level contacts

The Chinese intelligence wasn't too happy with

parking ticket statistics.

Finally,at my urging,René got a job as a carrier,

carrying sensitive government documents.

Did he understand what you planned to do with the documents?

I told him the Chinese were holding our son

and expected a few favors before we would be allowed to see him.

He cried and said nothing.

And then one day,

he returned with his first diplomatic pouch.

In his own small way,

René was a perfect father.

Your witness.

The prosecution claims Mr. Gallimard was fully aware

of the implications of his espionage activities.

Is this your opinion,Mr. Song?

I have no opinions.

Then let's approach the matter from another angle.

Was Monsieur Gallimard aware of

other aspects of your relationship?

Say,the fact that

you are a man?

Well,he never saw me completely naked.

Ever.

But,surely,he must have...

How shall I put this?

Put it however you like.

In all our years together,

René never explored my body.

Monsieur Song,please.

In all your years together,

he never

even

once?

He was very responsive to my ancient Oriental ways of love.

All of which I invented myself

just for him.

You haven't really answered the question.

Did he know you were a man?

You know,Your Honor,

I never asked.

What do you want from me?

Are you my Butterfly?

You still adore me,don't you?

You still want me.

Even in a suit and a tie.

You're not.

You're nothing.

You're nothing like my Butterfly.

Are you so sure?

Come here,

my little one.

I'm not your little one.

Ah. My mistake.

I am your little one.

Correct?

What are you doing?

Helping you to see through my act.

Stop doing that.

But that's what you always wanted.

Well,l...I don't want it now.

Oh,stop that. Stop that.

Look at me.

Look at you?

I fail to see what's so funny.

Oh,well,you never had much of a sense of humor,did you?

I just think

it's ridiculously funny that I've wasted

all this time

on just a man.

I'm not just a man.

Don't you remember

that theater in China

where we met so many years ago?

The place where you gave me your heart.

The skin I remember.

The curve of her cheek.

The softness of her mouth.

I am your Butterfly.

Under the robes,

beneath everything

it was always me.

Tell me

you adore me.

How could you,

who understood me so well,

make such a mistake?

You've shown me your true self.

But what I loved was the lie.

A perfect lie

that's been destroyed.

You never really loved me.

I'm a man

who loved a woman

created by a man.

Anything else simply falls short.

Special delivery.

Pay the postman.

Big performance for you tonight,Gallimard?

The biggest of my career.

You know me,yes?

Why?

Because I'm a celebrity.

I make people laugh.

I made all of France laugh.

Yeah,yeah.

But really,if you'd understood,

you wouldn't laugh at all.

Quite the contrary,

men like you should be

beating down my door

begging to learn my secrets.

For I,

René Gallimard,

have known...

and been loved by the perfect woman.

There is a vision

of the Orient that I have

a slender women

in cheongsams and kimonos

who die for the love of unworthy foreign devils

who are born and raised

to be perfect women

who take whatever punishment we give them

and spring back

strengthened by love

unconditionally.

It's a vision

that has become my life.

My mistake

was simple

and absolute.

The man I loved was not worthy.

He didn't deserve

even a second glance.

But instead,

I gave him my love.

All of my love.

Love warped my judgment,

blinded my eyes

so that now

when I look into the mirror

I see nothing but

I have a vision of the Orient

that deep within her almond eyes,

there are still women.

Women willing to sacrifice themselves for the love of a man.

Even a man whose love is

completely without worth.

Death with honor

is better than life

with dishonor

So

at last

in a prison

far from China

I have found her.

My name

is René Gallimard,

Also known

as Madame Butterfly.