Paul Childs *Spoilers* I've seen a few reviews carrying the opinion that Cynthia wasn't in love with Itami but Xie Ming based on the final love seen, but it doesn't quite seem to fit. They talk about it being a year since they had a fling and it is expressed as being a physical thing. He sure doesn't cut it as a lover and for her sex is more a celebration of being alive in the midst of tragedy. There is however a moment of emotional intimacy but not such that I can conclusively tell if it expresses feelings of the moment or if there's anything more. The film hints at more emotional interaction existing with Szeto. Cynthia seems to be torn between her feelings for Itami, the ideology of the group, and her distaste for violence used by it (shooting of Szeto early on). Her desire to use him seems a thin veil for her compassionate side. I think she is trying to hold her cards and has feelings all round (Itami re: memories of an age of innocence in childhood, Xie Ming re: her ideological side, maybe even Szeto for having both shared the loss of a loved one) In the end any love she has for Itami seems to be made void as after he discloses that Japan has successfully invaded, her going with him to Tokyo could no longer be made as an act of love but as an act of self preservation. She also sees the same coldness in Itami that has distanced her from Xie Ming. Enter Szeto and we have the traditional Chinese love tragedy wrapped up. I feel the film didn't say much but left a lot open to interpretation and speculation. It can leave a viewer with any number of impressions based on how they see and identify with the feelings portrayed. Some may see it as complex, others straightforward, but all can take away something from it. My preference would be to have a more complete picture by filling in the back story rather than just centring around Cynthia and Itami, but it did tell a good story in a natural way.

bigrichry This starts in 1928 with a young Chinese female student and a perhaps slightly older Japanese male student in Manchuria. He is at least being groomed to promote reactionary Japanese interests prior to a war and she is just a tender thing sucked in by the more worldly man. They go to bed together before he announces he is being recalled to his own land.Four years later the foreign conquest is underway and another love story is shown with less emphasis on sex.Another 5 years and things are boiling. The Japanese are more or less in control and a well concealed "Purple Butterfly counter insurgent group is hard at work messing up the new regime.The first girl is quite involved in the native movement when she sees her prewar lover returned for direct management action especially getting rid of the resistance. She now has quite mixed feelings remembering her schoolgirl love and wanting to further the protection of her country. Like a good girl she reports her finding of the Japanese boy and is taken aback when instructed to reaffirm a relationship with him to help the local cause. As this is very much a life-and death business, her quandary is interesting to watch. There is not right-or-wrong answers or even good-or-bad. Further the young Japanese man is confused whether she is a lover to be counted on or a detested spy to be destroyed. Watching this story unfold keeps the movie alive despite the desolation of the times and the destruction of war all acted out in constant downpour and dull and smoky lighting.As much as I would also like to have seen more light and life, I am not sure the important love-hate story could have been maintained therein.I had debated whether to pick this up at Blockbuster and am not sure I made the right choice. My heart aches for these people.

mpower1112 I couldn't disagree with your previous reviewer more. Purple Butterfly is a piece of majestic film-making, the first thriller I can remember since the days of Orson Welles with emotional depth and a real sense of history. The direction and cinematography are superb. Look at the railroad station sequence and the camera movement in what seems like the longest take since Antonioni's The Passenger. It is a virtuoso moment in the film. Admittedly Western audience will find the long silences and long contemplations of the actor's faces unusual, if not unsettling, but they contribute mightily to the mood and enable the actors to communicate without words. Also, it's not easy for a Westerner to distinguish between Chinese actors (sorry, but to this Westerner they did tend to look somewhat alike). Adding to the confusion is the mixture of flashbacks and forward-backs a la Tarantino. But all this just made me want to see the film a second time now that I have an inkling of what it is about. I intend to do exactly that tonight and then I'll try to find the DVD. ( I have only seen this film on cable). Also, be warned it is a very sad film. But thank God it doesn't have the usual tacked on American style optimistic ending. ( See True Romance, speaking of Tarantino.)

jimdavis-1 I am a huge Ziyi Zhang fan and will go to any film to see her which is what took me to Purple Butterfly. As much as I wanted to like this movie, I have to agree with many others who have commented on it. It is very confusing and also extremely slow. Because all of the film appears to have been shot with a hand held camera, significant portions of it are out of focus. The film has very little dialog and what there is doesn't tell you much. There are endless scenes of people just standing around smoking cigarettes or sitting in a room staring at each other with no conversation. The way the film time shifts is also very confusing and hard to follow. Even having read a number of reviews beforehand and having a general idea what the film was about, I still had a difficult time understanding what was going on. I knew beforehand that the movie was not remotely similar to previous Ziyi Zhang starring films but was looking forward to seeing her in something different but unfortunately I was ultimately disappointed. She never smiles in this film although admittedly most of the time she doesn't have anything to smile about. I could have done without the sex scenes as they were about as sexless and without any obvious feeling between the participants as you could hope to find.