Fridae

The trophy spouse in a spring-summer romance. The maid order bride from the exotic country. The well-travelled man of the world with a paramour in every city. Madam Butterfly may be an old-fashioned tale about a cross-cultural marriage or colonial imperialism gone wrong but what Puccini decried against is still very much alive and thriving today, thank you very much.

Madam Butterfly is The Royal Opera's follow-up to last year's 3D opera film Carmen. The Puccini classic tells of one self-regarding and narcissistic Lt Pinkerton (James Valenti) who takes local girl Cio-Cio San (Zhang Liping) for his own without intending to fulfil his duties towards her. As he tells an aghast Consul Sharpless (Anthony Michaels-Moore), just as the lease for his swanky new bungalow is valid for 999 years but has a monthly get-out clause, the same goes for Japanese marriages. If the locals have such a loose concept of marriage, why shouldn't he get married and divorced Japanese-style? The tragedy of course is that's not what Cio-Cio San had in mind when she accepted the marriage proposal.

Following the operatic tradition, there is beautiful singing, splendid costumes, starry-eyed outpourings of love, and of course the titular character expiring dramatically as the curtain falls.

Director Julian Napier opts strangely enough for a minimalist set – the four walls of the mansion on the hill where the entirety of the opera takes place. Hence, the action feels almost stage-like, far less film-like and dramatic than last year's Carmen. I didn't think this choice of direction makes a compelling stand for a 3D film at all.

But on the upshot, the three principals eschew broad operatic gestures for a nuanced performance worthy of a stage repertory company. The tiniest of gestures accentuate the almost comic cocksure lack of self-awareness of Pinkerton (whose moment of illumination and regret is still hilariously dim), the world-weary nature of Sharpless, and the incandescent purity and conviction of Cio-Cio San. And that is where Madam Butterfly 3D succeeds as an opera film.