Saw this a couple weeks back (but it feels like months)! Thank goodness for the internet, you know. I just wrote the longest review ever and it got swallowed up ’cause I still can’t effing use WordPress properly! WEEP!

Anyway, I just bought The Painted Veil off eBay, but I probably won’t get it ’til next week. Sigh.

Starring: Naomi Watts, Edward Norton, Toby Jones, Liev Schreiber, Anthony Wong, Diana Rigg, Lu Yan, Xia Yu
Synopsis: Based on the novel by W. Somerset Maugham, The Painted Veil is a love story set in the 1920s that tells the story of a young English couple, Walter Fane (Edward Norton), a middle class doctor and Kitty (Naomi Watts), an upper-class woman, who get married for the wrong reasons and relocate to Shanghai, where she falls in love with someone else. When he uncovers her infidelity, in an act of vengeance, Walter accepts a job in a remote village in China ravaged by a deadly cholera epidemic, and takes her along. Their journey brings meaning to their relationship and gives them purpose in one of the most remote and beautiful places on earth. [from IMDB]

NB: This review contains spoilers.

Rating:

Review: I found this film purely by chance as I was on one of my fave sites, Music from the Movies, checking out Alexandre Desplat reviews (yes, I have a life), and I came across The Painted Veil, which I had not seen nor heard of. The fact that it was a tale about a Western couple set in 1920s China had me captivated, and I am so glad that I watched it.

Norton and Watts give solid and nuanced performances as the unlikely married couple. Kitty is self-centred, privileged and contentedly bored, while Walter, though in love with his wife, is shy and reserved. Since he is a medical professional (or bacteriologist, if you want to get specific) Walter brings Kitty along to his work base in Shanghai, China. When he discovers that his wife has been unfaithful, in a rather cruel and callous act of vengeance he proposes that Kitty come with him to a remote region of south-central China where there is an outbreak of cholera. Kitty refuses, but Walter is not the dim fool she has assumed him to be – he says that he will publicly disgrace her unless she can get her lover, English consul, Charlie Townsend (played by the delightfully caddish Liev Schreiber), to divorce her. Naturally, Charlie is in no way prepared to give up his position in society, so Kitty finds herself tangled in a nasty web of manipulation.

Surely the road to any form of reconciliation is near impossible? As self-destructive as the strained relationship between Walter and Kitty becomes, there are darker forces at work: angry and defiant nationalists rage the streets shouting and posting anti-colonialism slogans, raising tensions between natives and the British enforcement, while the devastation of the cholera epidemic is almost unbearable for Walter, and unimaginable to the very unhappy and frail Kitty, who cannot fathom why her husband is subjecting them both to such miserable conditions.

The road to true love was never smooth, and it is a curious delight to watch Kitty and Walter gradually rediscover themselves in an exotic land of vast proportions and epic scale. The beginnings of the journey are tentative and fraught with contemptuous tension, as one particularly good scene depicts when Walter refuses a bowl of salad that their maid has not cooked, fearing it may be contaminated, but Kitty takes a spoonful regardless and eats the vegetables with a look of pure defiance directed at her husband, who likewise rises to the challenge and does the same. “Are you planning to kill yourself?” he asks.

Completely hateful they may both be, and with good reason, we soon learn as they do, that there are good and compassionate sides to their characters that have never shown themselves before. As they both come to terms with the new environment they are forced to deal with, they discover what new meanings it brings to their relationship – it is a chance for them both to explore traits that could not be revealed in other circumstances. Kitty discovers when she visits the local convent and orphanage, seeing first hand the sadness and tragedy that have befallen so many innocents. Walter’s icy feelings for his wife also begin to thaw as he observes the subtle changes of his wife’s attitude towards him. The road to their reconciliation is poignant – every new brick is added onto the bridge with every tell-tale nuance of the characters, culminating in one of the most exquisitely erotic love scenes I’ve seen. The sexual tension in the build up is slow and palpable – it was extremely well captured, minus one particularly noticeable continuity error (oh look, his shirt’s off! Oh look, there it is again!).

Shepherding the couple’s journey along the way are Waddington (Toby Jones) and Mother Superior (Diana Rigg), both being very perceptive of their emotional struggle. Anthony Wong looks quite bored sadly, as the stern and morose Colonel Yu, acting as buffer between the Western influence and the Chinese. Li Feng provides some needed comic relief as the bashful and somewhat clumsy Nationalist soldier hired to protect Kitty, and newcomer, Lu Yan, is the exotic Man Chou lover of Waddington.

Just as it seems Walter and Kitty have bridged the gap between them and the cholera epidemic is finally under control, circumstances take a turn for the worse when neighbouring villagers bombard the town seeking medical aid. Walter sets up a nearby refugee camp to support them, but falls ill to the cholera. Kitty takes the risk of nursing him. What follows is a deep feeling of inevitability and dread in the most emotionally charged scene of the film:

Walter: Forgive me
Kitty: Forgive you? … there is nothing to forgive…
[after a moment of silence]
Kitty: Walter… [cries softly] I’m sorry …

It leaves a lot to be desired, as we never do know for certain whether they had finally found love together, but after all is said and done, they at least found mutual respect for each other, which would surely have been the foundation towards deeper romantic sentiments. Perhaps Walter’s life was cut short as penance for his cruel vengeance on his wife’s only affair, but what we do know is that Kitty is no longer the selfish flapper she once was, as the conclusion reveals a mature, young mother who has risen above adversity – she picks flowers, and asks her son (whose name turns out to be Walter) if she should buy them. Upon leaving the florist, they happen upon Charlie Townsend, who as good as suggests they reignite their love affair but Kitty interrupts with a resolute “Goodbye, Mr. Townsend” permanently closing off any connection between. It can be said then that Kitty has finally learnt whom her heart was really committed to.

Walter, Jr: Who was that, mummy?
Kitty: No one important, darling.

This is an unconventional tale of romance, filmed in the most exquisite and sublime locations – the cinematography is nothing short of breathtaking. It’s well paced, and although it lacks action and suspense (the political elements are only teasingly hinted at, providing the film with more solid historical context), the transformation of the characters are just so that they compensate for any missing element of a typical film. Even more impressive is the fact that The Painted Veil was filmed entirely in China, which is a feat in itself. Extra kudos to Alexandre Desplat for his beautiful, beautiful score, for which he won a Golden Globe Award, and rightfully so. Edward Norton and co. should be very proud of pursuing this 7 year project, and for the profound and emotional impact it has had on its audience.

Recommended viewing!