M. Butterfly (1993): One of Cronenberg’s Worst Films, Based on David Henry Hwang’s Play, Starring Jeremy Irons in an Impossible Role

Based on David Henry Hwang’s play of the same name, Cronenberg’s story about a French diplomat’s 20-year affair with a Peking opera performer feels too stale and too unbelievable.

Jeremy Irons navigates with the seeming impossibility of his character René Gallimard’s ignorance of the truth about his Chinese lover.

But John Lone does not quite manage to square the circle of Song Liling’s subterfuge on behalf of the People’s Republic, his actual feelings for Gallimard and his generally conflicted sexuality.

A well-intentioned and self-aware adaptation of Hwang’s source material, Cronenberg stages the unlikely but apparently loosely true story with typical proficiency, but no personal investment.