M. Butterfly Page #3

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the Chinese don't even like Ho Chi Minh.

Uh-huh.

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.

Yes, well, I certainly...

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'm 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.

You've been drinking.

I've missed you.

- You expect me to give up my career?

- Of course not.

I am your slave.

Slave?

You toss words like that around

as if you really meant them.

But I do.

Well, let'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.

Ren.

I'm pregnant.

- What?

- I'm pregnant.

Oh, Butterfly.

Mm.

I've betrayed you in so many ways,

but I'll love you.

Mm. I'll rescue you.

And save you, and protect you, and...

You have.

Tonight, my beautiful master.

Believe me, you have saved my life.

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.

Ha, ha, ha.

This is wonderful talk.

You really are mad.

Trading babies?

The ministry will never approve

such a thing. Ha.

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.

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.

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.

Ren.

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, Ren.

It'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.

Ren, whatever happens,

the days I spent with you...

...were the only days I ever truly existed.

Not if you examine them carefully.

No, I don't think it's likely to happen.

- Don't you agree?

- Hmm.

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

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