B

Lovers of Puccini will undoubtedly find “The Turandot Project” intriguing, as will fans of the extraordinary director Zhang Yimou. The documentary covers the mounting of a production of the composer’s final opera, about a redoubtable Chinese princess, at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, in which Zhang collaborated with conductor Zubin Mehta; it then follows the transfer of their joint effort to the Forbidden City in Beijing, showing the myriad difficulties which arose during negotiations with the Chinese government and from the cultural differences between east and west.

What’s right about the picture is its depiction of the details of the production, especially the contrast it draws between the genial, ebullient, always hopeful Mehta and the dour, intense and rather pessimistic Zhang. Its portrayal of the problems involved in mounting the opera in China is also fascinating, especially when it issues of political import and cultural sensitivity are raised. Director Allan Miller, whose earlier work (“Small Wonders,” the documentary later turned into the Meryl Streep movie “Music of the Heart,” as well as other musically-themed non-fiction films) makes him the perfect choice for this effort, does a sturdy, workmanlike job, evincing a high degree of competence if not a great deal of imagination or innovation.

The production of “Turandot” that came out of all the planning and activity, by the way, doesn’t–on the evidence of the footage here–seem to have been a great one; the staging looks wonderful, but some of the singing sounds a bit feeble. (It was broadcast on PBS, for those who might have caught it.) But it was clearly an event of considerable historical significance in the musical world, and it’s good that a picture like this documents it so nicely. (And it wasn’t, in any event, the kind of disaster that befell most of Turandot’s suitors.)