Purple Butterfly
Director: Lou Ye
Genre: War film, Political drama, World cinema, Drama
Year: 2003
Country: China, France
Language: Japanese Language, Standard Mandarin
Starring: Zhang Ziyi, Liu Ye, Li Bingbing, Toru Nakamura, Kin Ei
Purple Butterfly (Chinese: 紫蝴蝶; pinyin: Zǐ Húdié) is a 2003 Chinese film, directed by Lou Ye. It is Lou's third film after Weekend Lover and Suzhou River. It stars Chinese mainland actors, Zhang Ziyi, Liu Ye and Li Bingbing, as well as Japanese actor Tôru Nakamura. The film premiered on May 23, 2003 at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival, and was given a limited release in New York City the following year on November 26, 2004.
The film was only released in one theater in the United States (in New York City) for three weeks where it grossed $17,790.
Cynthia (Zhang Ziyi) and a Japanese student, Itami (Tôru Nakamura), have fallen in love in Japanese controlled Manchukuo prior to the war when Itami is forced to return to Japan.
Years later, in Shanghai, Szeto (Liu Ye) and Tang Yiling (Li Bingbing) have fallen in love. Cynthia has also returned to Shanghai now as a member of Purple Butterfly, a powerful resistance group against the Japanese occupation, led by Xie Ming (Feng Yuanzheng). After a case of mistaken identity and a shootout at a railroad station that leaves Yiling dead, Szeto finds himself an unexpected pawn in the battle between former lovers Cynthia and Itami who has also come to
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