The plot is what happens when family and lovers don't communicate and assume very bad things. Golaud finds Melisande at a pond in the forest. She is a survivor of some kind of trauma. They get married with them not knowing much at all about each other. Pelleas is Golaud's younger half brother, and he develops this childish crush on Melisande. It is mostly flirting and games, and ends act 3 with a kiss. Golaud kills his brother over this and eventually Melisande dies after childbirth.
The staging and music were way better than the plot. It's Debussy, so the music is very beautiful. The singers were among the orchestra, and the action was done in a box far back on the stage. It was full of dancers, smoke, lights, and projections. The glass went cloudy or clear with electric charge. It was a pond, a grotto, and oftentimes a forest. It was just as impressive (yes, intentional pun) as the director's previous staging of the Cunning Little Vixen.
The opera is 3 hours long. 90 minutes (acts 1-3), 20 minute intermission, and then 65 minutes for acts 4 and 5.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWueJENDvwU
