Cast: Naomi Watts, Edward Norton, Live Schriber, Diana Rigg Dir: John Curran Rating: 4/5Kitty Fane (Watts) marries Walter (Morton) due to pressure to settle down from her wealthy parents, despite her lack of love for him.The couple move to Shanghai soon after their marriage where Kitty begins an affair with Charles Townsend (Schriber).As Walter becomes aware of the affair he asks his wife to accompany him to the remote town of Mei-tan-fu where there is a cholera epidemic. When she refuses he threatens her with a scandalous divorce. She finally agrees to go to Mei-tan-fu when Townsend makes it clear that he will not leave his wife for Kitty.The Painted Veil is based on the 1925 novel by W.Somerset Maugham and has all the hallmarks of a picture from the school of Merchant Ivory: a literary adaptation set in the twentieth century, with lavish sets and characters who find themselves in tragic circumstances.
The only difference between the Painted Veil and a Merchant Ivory production is that the lead performers are not British.
Kitty undergoes a radical transformation throughout the film from spoilt rich girl to a woman with a heart who you genuinely feel for at the end of the film. As she begins to help out in the church in Mei- tan-fu Walter realises that she may not be the self-centred spoilt individual he had perceived her to be.
It’s a controlled performance by Watts who portrays Kitty’s vanity, distain, pain and ultimate heart break with such effortless ease that she no longer lives in the shadow of Nicole Kidman, and she really has become a fine actress.
And as she changes Kitty comes to highly regard her husband’s work and she becomes a woman truly worthy of him.
The disgustingly under-rated Norton is also excellent as the tortured Walter, who genuinely loves his wife and is truly hurt by her betrayal.
At times it is painful to watch as they deliberately try to hurt each one another and try to make each other pay for their faults, particularly who has internalised the rage he feels towards Kitty for her affair.
The Painted Veil, which was shot in a remote region of China’s Guangx Province, is a beautiful and moving film. A film of considerable growth and self discovery for the lead characters.
The mismatched couple, under trying circumstances, come to appreciate qualities in each other that they didn’t know were there and ultimately fall in love.
With an evocative score by Alexandre Desplat, set to breathtaking cinematography and backdrop it’s a textured and sensual film that has an unsure outcome as the threat of cholera hangs over the whole picture.
Helen Earnshaw FemaleFirst