David Cronenberg’s work has always had queer tendencies. From his 1969 feature film STEREO onwards, there’s been more fluid bodies, unstable identities and allegorical depictions of the queer and trans experience than we can even list. So it felt like high time we celebrated Mr. Cronenberg, especially given he’s also… inarguably the most iconic Toronto filmmaker of all time. And we’re doing so with what might be his most overtly queer film (and definitely among his most divisive): 1993’s M Butterfly.
Starring regular Cronenberg collaborator Jeremy Irons alongside John Lone, M Butterfly adapts David Henry Hwang’s 1988 play, which is itself loosely based on the true story of the relationship between French diplomat Bernard Bouriscot and Chinese opera singer Shi Pei Pu. With lots to say about gender performance, Western imperialism and even cultural revolution, it’s certainly one of Cronenberg’s most explicitly political films, in addition to being one of his queerest.
