The Painted Veil
John Curran beautifully and sensitively directs this story of love and redemption that takes place in the early part of the 20th Century.
Kitty (Naomi Watts) is a single young woman who lives in London. She is constantly being pestered by her mother about getting married. Kitty meets Dr. Walter Fane (Edward Norton) and he immediately becomes smitten with her. Before you can turn around he asks her to marry him. Kitty barely knows Walter and she certainly doesn't love him but she accepts his proposal because she wants to get away from her family.
Kitty moves with Walter to Shanghai where he does researches infectious diseases. It is quite apparent just how awkward they feel around each other. Walter realizes that Kitty is bored and takes her out one night. There she meets Charlie Townsend (Liev Schreiber) and his wife (they are also Londoners who live in Shanghai). Kitty and Charlie hit it off immediately. He is everything that Walter is not (for one thing he is a smooth talker). They begin an affair but it doesn't take long for Walter to find out. There is talk of divorce but for reasons that I will not mention that does not happen. As almost a punishment for Kitty, Walter accepts a position in a remote village in China where a cholera epidemic is raging out of control. She has no choice but to go with him.
Walter is very unforgiving and turns a cold shoulder towards Kitty. Living in that rural village is very hard. At every turn you are surrounded by death. Walter and Kitty meet Deputy Commissioner Waddington (Toby Jones) who helps them get acclimated to the place. The clinic that Walter works in is run by French nuns. The Mother Superior (Diana Rigg) helps the lost Kitty find herself.
As if the cholera epidemic were not enough to contend with there is also the political turmoil.
Many of the Chinese people do not like Western ideas and medicine and blame them for the bad things that are happening.
As I mentioned before, Curran does a remarkable job with this film. The screenplay is very well written by Ron Nyswaner who adapted it from Somerset Maugham's novel. But there were a number of changes made from the book. I haven't read the book but I certainly would like to.
The cinematography by Stuart Dryburgh is breathtaking. We get to see rural China in all its glory and we actually feel like we are there.
All of the acting it top notch. Norton is very good as Walter, who is shy when we first meet him but becomes cold and calculating as time goes on. However, the movie belongs to Watts. Her face expresses all of Kitty's pain and sorrow. Despair flows through her being.
The Painted Veil shows us how forgiveness helps to heal the heart. And by doing so it is in its own way a very spiritual film.
Kitty (Naomi Watts) is a single young woman who lives in London. She is constantly being pestered by her mother about getting married. Kitty meets Dr. Walter Fane (Edward Norton) and he immediately becomes smitten with her. Before you can turn around he asks her to marry him. Kitty barely knows Walter and she certainly doesn't love him but she accepts his proposal because she wants to get away from her family.
Kitty moves with Walter to Shanghai where he does researches infectious diseases. It is quite apparent just how awkward they feel around each other. Walter realizes that Kitty is bored and takes her out one night. There she meets Charlie Townsend (Liev Schreiber) and his wife (they are also Londoners who live in Shanghai). Kitty and Charlie hit it off immediately. He is everything that Walter is not (for one thing he is a smooth talker). They begin an affair but it doesn't take long for Walter to find out. There is talk of divorce but for reasons that I will not mention that does not happen. As almost a punishment for Kitty, Walter accepts a position in a remote village in China where a cholera epidemic is raging out of control. She has no choice but to go with him.
Walter is very unforgiving and turns a cold shoulder towards Kitty. Living in that rural village is very hard. At every turn you are surrounded by death. Walter and Kitty meet Deputy Commissioner Waddington (Toby Jones) who helps them get acclimated to the place. The clinic that Walter works in is run by French nuns. The Mother Superior (Diana Rigg) helps the lost Kitty find herself.
As if the cholera epidemic were not enough to contend with there is also the political turmoil.
Many of the Chinese people do not like Western ideas and medicine and blame them for the bad things that are happening.
As I mentioned before, Curran does a remarkable job with this film. The screenplay is very well written by Ron Nyswaner who adapted it from Somerset Maugham's novel. But there were a number of changes made from the book. I haven't read the book but I certainly would like to.
The cinematography by Stuart Dryburgh is breathtaking. We get to see rural China in all its glory and we actually feel like we are there.
All of the acting it top notch. Norton is very good as Walter, who is shy when we first meet him but becomes cold and calculating as time goes on. However, the movie belongs to Watts. Her face expresses all of Kitty's pain and sorrow. Despair flows through her being.
The Painted Veil shows us how forgiveness helps to heal the heart. And by doing so it is in its own way a very spiritual film.
posted by Film Fanatic | 9:06 PM
1 Comments:
hi, thank you very much for your review of the painted veil. i'm a big fan of naomi watts and think she's one of the greatest actresses of this generation, but is also one of the most unfortunate and overlooked ones.
having robbed her of her well deserved nomination for king kong last year i hope the oscars will do the right thing this year by recognizing her performance in the painted veil.
i hope you don't mind my posting your review on the oscarwatch forum where i'm trying to generate some buzz for the film to help her chance. the people there have not been supportive of her in the past, and not this time as well. i'm doing the best i can.
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