X
- 2004
- R
- Palm Pictures
- 2 h 7 m
- 2004
- R
- Palm Pictures
- 2 h 7 m
- 2004
- R
- Palm Pictures
- 2 h 7 m
- 2004
- R
- Palm Pictures
- 2 h 7 m
Purple Butterfly
68
7.8
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 12 Critic Reviews
68
58% Positive
7 Reviews
7 Reviews
33% Mixed
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
8% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 12 Critic Reviews
68
58% Positive
7 Reviews
7 Reviews
33% Mixed
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
8% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
A gorgeously shot, ambitious epic.
Dark and challenging.
Hectic, lyrical, swooningly romantic and almost unwatchably brutal, Purple Butterfly deploys a modern Asian gangster-movie aesthetic to tell a love story of Shakespearean dimensions.
Director Lou Ye, who gave us the lilting "Suzhou River," doesn't care much for dialogue. He lets Wang Yu's pulsating camerawork do the talking.
Rich with emotional turmoil and searing beauty, but it could have used a little more time in the editing room to make sense of it all.
The effect is hypnotically disorienting, but the less familiar you are with this period in 20th-century Chinese history, the easier it is to get hopelessly lost in the tangle of personal and political loyalties and betrayals.
Ye bites off substantially more than he can chew.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 5 User Ratings
7.8
80% Positive
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
20% Mixed
1 Rating
1 Rating
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 5 User Ratings
7.8
80% Positive
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
20% Mixed
1 Rating
1 Rating
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
There are no user reviews yet. Be the first to add a review.
Awards
Chinese Film Media Awards
• 1 Win & 7 Nominations
Cannes Film Festival
• 1 Nomination
Toronto International Film Festival
• 1 Nomination