The hashtag #HowtoUnderstandTenet has gained 290 million reads on microblogging platform Weibo. [Photo/Weibo.com]

While Nolan aficionados delight in returning to the cinema for a second and third viewing and getting to the bottom of the plot, many others have raced to the internet, complaining how the auteur's new original feature has left their brains reeling.

Even worse, many viewers admit they are still clueless after reading lots of spoiler-heavy articles and videos, produced by diehard Nolan fans, on social media platforms.

"I think I'm not qualified to review the film since I even didn't understand all those spoilers," reads one short review with 4,553 likes on China's IMDb-equivalent Douban, where the film's score has dropped from 8.4 out of 10 to 7.8 as of Monday, overshadowed by the director's nine other films that have scored above 8.0 and 9.0.

"Don't try to understand it. Feel it," a line scientist character Barbara says to the protagonist, has caught on. Unable to understand the movie, many netizens have quoted the line to console themselves.