A French diplomat was assigned to Beijing, China in the 1960s. He becomes infatuated with a Chinese opera performer, Song , who spies on him for government information under orders from the Chinese government. Their affair lasts for twenty years, with Gallimard all the while apparently unaware (or willfully ignorant) of the fact that in traditional Chinese opera, all roles are performed by men. Eventually, Gallimard betrays his country and is tried for treason, which forces him to face the truth about his relationship. Faced with the unbearable truth that his lover is actually male, he himself takes on the role of Butterfly, the woman who died for the sake of an illusory love.

When Gallimard met Butterfly for the first time in the theater after her performance, he complimented her and said it was a convincing show and it was beautiful, to which Butterfly answered:”What would you say if a blond cheerleader fell in love with a short Japanese businessman. He marries her and then goes home for 3 years, during which time she prays to his pic 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.”
Gillimard had to say:”Yes.
But then he tried to explain–:”You made me see the beauty of the story, of her death. It’s pure sacrifice.”
Butterfly:”Well yes, to a Westerner. It’s one of your favorite fantasies, isn’t it? The submissive Oriental woman and the cruel white man.”
I was thinking–”Wow, it hurts.”
I believe the seduction has already begun at this moment–because when it hurts, one remembers.
And the movie just become interesting right at the beginning.

Butterfly:”In order to better serve the great proletarian state, I practice my deception as often as possible. I am trying my best to become somebody else.”
I believe he had become somebody else in the end, except what Gallimard loved was the perfect lie. He doesn’t want to know the truth. He said:”I am a man who loved a woman created by a man. Anything else simply fell short.”
He killed himself and became the western version of Butterfly.
I couldn’t believe that this affair last for 20 years. Fake intimacies, fake pregnancy, even a fake child. I kept asking–And this is based on a true story?
And in the end, I suddenly realize, self-deception is the blindest of all the blinds.

Butterfly:”Do you know why most female roles are played by men in Chinese Opera?–Because only a man knows how a woman should act.”