Butterfly and Red Pear Blossom (Restored Version)

Dir: Lee Tit
Orig Story: Zhang Shouqing
Scr/Librettist: Tong Tik-sang
Prod Co: Hawks
Cast: Yam Kim-fai, Pak Suet-sin, Lan Chi Pak, Leung Sing-por, Cheung Sing-fei
1959 | B&W | DCP | Cantonese | Chi & Eng Subtitles | 142 min

In 1956, inspired by Pak Suet-sin’s artistry and a painting of famous courtesan Tse So-chau as a flower goddess, Tong Tik-sang adapted Ming Dynasty chuanqi (drama) The Tale of Red Pear Flower into a Cantonese opera, Butterfly and Red Pear Blossom. Five days after the opera opened, Tong wrote to renowned film director Lee Tit and proposed a film version of the opera, together with details like story background, setting, cinematographic techniques, sets, musical arrangements and character costumes and stylings.

The story describes the mutual admiration between a scholar and a courtesan, and their struggles against coincidence, power play, feudalistic prejudices, vows, betrayals and fate, ending with a reunion in a dream-like realm. The most touching moments in the opera include the lead actors (Yam Kim-fai and Pak Suet-sin) caught in a series of hide-and-seek-like twists of fate; the lovers each on one side of a door, expressing through operatic convention their frustration of being physically close but unable to see each other; and in the scene ‘Pavilion Meeting’ when they met and she pretended to be a stranger, yet when he shared the poetry he sent to his love, she couldn’t help but pick up and continue singing, as if with one mind. The film with the same title was completed in 1959. Tong Tik-sang’s libretto and plot, Sin Fung Ming Opera Troupe’s performance, Lee Tit’s directing and editing synergise with one another to create a masterpiece.

# Post-screening talk with Prof Chan Sau-yan

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