So many plusses and so many minuses. Watching Madam Butterfly 3D was like that old "game of two halves cliche.''
Firstly, hats off to the cinemas who are helping to give this type of experience to the masses.
Until not that long ago, Showcase, for example, pretty much confined itself to the blockbuster pictures which would have guaranteed bums on seats.
Tonight, at its Nottingham cinema, the duty manager was even handing out programmes for the performance of Madam Butterfly.
So plusses for putting it on at all and the nice touch.
The minuses were nothing to do with the cinema and all about the film.
For starters, the 3D was nowhere near as effective as in Julian Napier's last movie of this type - Carmen 3D.
But then again, there is far more going on in Carmen than in Madam Butterfly. To put it bluntly, one transfers better to the big screen than the other.
Puccini's opera is that its set is sparse and there are comparatively few characters, thus there is no need for the extra dimension to help bring the background into focus.
Indeed, only once, when Butterfly and her maid, Suzuki, were scattering flowers across the stage, did the 3D help the film at all. Simple HD would have done.
For large parts, I didn't feel that Madam Butterfly lent itself to cinema. The story is very simple and intimate and the big screen added a depth it didn't need.
But in the last 20 minutes my mind was changed.
In this Royal Opera House presentation, Madam Butterfly is played by Liping Zhang,
Her excitement is almost tangible in the early stages when she marries the scoundrel BF Pinkerton (James Valenti).
She is equally demonstrative when in denial about whether he will ever return to her as the storyline moves on three years.
But her coup de grace comes as the truth dawns on her. At this point Zhang musters up real tears to the point that when she accepts her applause at the end, she is clearly emotionally overwhelmed.
It was then that I realised her brilliance. She had been on stage for almost all of a two-hour performance and given an awe-inspiring performance which had taken every last drop of energy out of her.
And while I wasn't entirely sure about some aspects of the film, it is this which I will remember the most.
Laughs: none
Jumps: none
Vomit: none
Nudity: none
Overall rating: 7/10