M. Butterfly Page #2

---

...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.

Ren?

Shall we skip the Frisches' party?

No, you mistake the whole situation.

You're not going to bore me

with political talk.

It's most important

that you don't worry about it.

- No, no.

- 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.

Oh.

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.

Mm.

If you're not careful...

...we'll break all your pencils in half.

I played with my father.

- You did?

- Yes.

- Was he a choirmaster?

- Ha, no.

- He wasn't?

- No, we were living...

No, for a while in India.

- Was it Punjab?

- Yes, how did you know?

- I've been to Ceylon.

- Really?

We visited India years ago.

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

Yeah, do you miss Paris

as much as I do?

To tell you that truth,

I don't even have the time.

- No, but, I...

- 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.

Ren.

Ren, I think we've located

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 it's happened.

- You've become this new

aggressive, overconfident thing.

The reports I've been getting on you...

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

Well, I take my job, uh...

I take it seriously.

Well, well.

You see...

...our needs here in China are changing.

It'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.

Uh...

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.

Mademoiselle Song?

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.

Well, 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.

Ren, please, gently.

I've never...

Never?

Ren, 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.

Know now, that we embark

on the most forbidden of loves.

I'm 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.

Uh, 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?

Ren.

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 1700 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 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,

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes