The Painted Veil

Plot synopsis:
On a brief trip back to London, earnest, bookish bacteriologist Walter Fane (Edward Norton) is dazzled by Kitty Garstin (Naomi Watts), a vain London socialite. He proposes; she accepts ("only to get as far away from [her] mother as possible"), and the couple honeymoon in Venice. They travel on to Walter's medical post in Shanghai, where he is stationed in a government lab studying infectious diseases. They find themselves ill-suited, with Kitty much more interested in parties and the social life of the British expatriates.
Kitty meets Charles Townsend (Liev Schreiber), a married British vice consul, and the two engage in a clandestine affair. When Walter discovers his wife's infidelity, he seeks to punish her by threatening to divorce her on the grounds of adultery, if she doesn't accompany him to a small village in a remote area of China. He has volunteered to treat victims of an unchecked cholera epidemic sweeping through the area. Kitty begs to be allowed to divorce him quietly, but he refuses, stating "Why should I put myself through the smallest trouble for you?" She hopes Townsend will leave his wife Dorothy and marry her. When she proposes this possibility to Charles, he declines to accept, despite earlier claiming to love Kitty.
She is compelled to travel to the mountainous inland region with her husband. They embark upon an arduous, two-week-long overland journey, which would be considerably faster and much easier if they traveled by river, but Walter is determined to make Kitty as unhappy and uncomfortable as possible. Upon their arrival in Mei-tan-fu, she is distressed to discover they will be living in near-squalor, far removed from everyone except their cheerful neighbor Waddington, a British deputy commissioner living with a young Chinese woman in relative opulence.
Walter and Kitty barely speak to each other and, except for a cook and a Chinese soldier assigned to guard her, she is alone for long hours. After visiting an orphanage run by a group of French nuns, Kitty volunteers her services, and she is assigned to work in the music room. She is surprised to learn from the Mother Superior that her husband loves children, especially babies. In this setting, she begins to see him in a new light as she learns what a selfless and caring person he can be. When he sees her with the children, he in turn realizes she is not the shallow, selfish person he thought her to be. As Walter's anger and Kitty's unhappiness subside, their marriage begins to blossom in the midst of the epidemic crisis. She soon learns she is pregnant, but is unsure who the father is. Walter – in love with Kitty again – assures her it doesn't matter.
The cholera epidemic takes many victims. As Walter and the locals are starting to get it under control, completely due to his importation of clean water through a system of aqueducts (as the local people did not understand water-borne infectious disease) cholera-carrying refugees from elsewhere pour into the area, forcing Walter to set up a camp outside town. He contracts the disease and Kitty lovingly nurses him, but he dies, and she is devastated. Bereft and pregnant, she leaves China.
Five years later, Kitty appears well-dressed and happy in London shopping with her young son Walter. They meet Townsend by chance on the street, and he suggests that Kitty meet with him. Asking young Walter his age, he realizes from the reply that he might be the boy's father. Kitty rejects his overtures and walks away. When her son asks who Townsend is, she replies "No one important, darling".

Tags: romantic, boring, sentimental, realism, flashback

Review:
Beautiful scenery and costumes, a cast of thousands, and enough background information to make you feel you are more educated about a time and place than you were before you saw the movie.What this film offers the fortunate viewer that many other movies of its kind do not, are lead characters you can actually empathize with and grow to care about.
I don't even remember their characters' names.) The movie's tagline- "Sometimes the greatest journey is the distance between two people" succinctly points to the heart of this film, and what makes it work so well; the journey of a couple who married for the wrong reasons towards true intimacy with each other.On one level, the plot is so simple and straightforward that a one line summary gives the whole story away, and for that reason, I will refrain from providing that information as much as possible.
It is in this setting that the parallel stories unfold; the story of a doctor and his wife living in the house of a dead missionary's family as the doctor tries to get control of the conditions responsible for the epidemic, and the story of the couple's journey towards re-discovering each other.The impressive skill that Ms. Watts and Mr. Norton bring to their work truly makes you believe that that the first challenge- combating cholera amid colonial unrest and nationalist hostilities is easier than the task of repairing a damaged marriage, and with each uneasy glance and every unsaid word, you feel what these two people feel.
Well, after his turn in The Illusionist earlier in the year and now "Walter Fane," all I can say is, move over, Ralph Fiennes- there's a new sexy "repressed, stiff-upper-lipped, sensually simmering under the surface" leading man in town.The Painted Veil is an intelligently adapted, well-directed film with two charismatic, award-worthy lead performances and a strong supporting cast, including Liev Schreiber, Diana Rigg, and most notably Toby Jones as the Fanes' neighbor.
Somerset Maugham's "The Painted Veil" begins slowly and patiently, with leisurely flashbacks that elliptically bring us to a singularly absurd predicament: circa 1925, a British doctor (Edward Norton in his second romantic lead following "The Illusionist") has brought his lovely young wife (an entrancing Naomi Watts) into the middle of a Chinese cholera epidemic purely out of spite.
It's a wickedly clever little set-up that becomes increasingly more complex and absorbing.The note-perfect and delicately layered performances of Watts and Norton, two thespians typically acclaimed for their edgy and independent work and playing against type, are anchored with the literary genius of Maugham and Curran's keen eye and steady hand behind the camera.
Watts and Norton are given plenty to chew on, not only great lines, but great scenes full of lush scenery, and beautiful and textured visual details that serve as perfect backdrops for their complex and unpredictable relationship.Back in the heyday of Merchant-Ivory, it seemed like this type of literary minded period-piece was a dime a dozen.
There hasn't been a hugely successful film of this type since 1996's "The English Patient." We haven't seen a worthwhile film in this genre since Neil Jordon's underrated "The End of the Affair" in 1999, which not coincidentally was an adaptation of one of the great novels from Maugham's fellow Brit and contemporary, Graham Greene, and addressed many of the same themes.What "The Painted Veil" lacks in epic sweep it makes up for in scores with its nuanced performances and subversive outlook on romance and true love.
Set in China in the 1920s during a cholera epidemic and the nationalist uprising, the film explores the stormy relationship of a dry British doctor and his seemingly incompatible fun-loving wife.
Most incredible of all were the zoom shots onto a particular character's face or eyes, emphasizing the sweat on his/her brow or a particularly telling expression on his/her face.The musical score was very powerful and in-tune with the story told and the amazing characterizations.I simply LOVED this film.
What could go wrong?Our film's title goes back to a stanza:"Lift not the painted veil which those who liveCall Life: though unreal shapes be pictured there,And it but mimic all we would believe"Shelley's poem furnishes the title of Somerset Maugham's oriental love story.
Kitty (Naomi Watts) is warm and natural, but marries Walter more because it seems like a sensible thing to do than for any over-riding love.
"If you're going to make a film set in China during the period, I think there's got to be a reason for doing it other than the inherent romanticism of the location."To Kitty, the work of the nuns (headed by Mother Superior, Diana Rigg) is laudable, especially with orphans.
Though most of the story is set in China, even the scenes of England were filmed in China which is quite an interesting change (since it's usually the reverse).'The Painted Veil' is essentially about the journey of a couple, a frivolous Kitty and a stubborn Walter, and how they grow during this ordeal.
Curran cleverly puts layers and depth into the film (unlike many period pieces which end up looking shallow and clichéd).'The Painted Veil' is one of the few adaptations that work beautifully on screen.
Needless to say the waterworks were on not only for her but myself as well as this film meets it dramatic climax.For Edward Norton 2006 will be remembered as a banner year (though no Oscar nominations) He was a cool guy in "The Illusionist" and the ultimate nerd in this film portraying a bacteriologist who takes his unfaithful wife to the heart of China to deal with of all things a cholera epidemic.
This is what Dr. Walter Fane (Edward Norton) proposes to Kitty (Naomi Watts); and she agrees, of course because it's a chance to get as far away from her parents as possible.
Going back to Nyswaner, he achieves the turn of the story perfectly, providing us a big gallery of characters (Toby Jones as an unpredictable neighbor, Anthony Wong Chau-Sang as a harsh Chinese colonel, Diana Rigg as a caring nun) as he deals with strong issues like terminal diseases and social differences.Sometimes recognized as the most intelligent man in the industry, a versatile and underrated actor, Norton produced the movie (in which he's absolutely brilliant, with the English accent included) and made sure Naomi Watts was in itEvery time she appears on screen in a film she looks different; although we know it's her.
Even so, she produced Curran's previous movie (where she was also great) and co-produced this one: she must care a little bit.Ultimately, with all the things it covers, "The Painted Veil" is a beautiful story about love found, as in discovered; a story about regret and the purest forgiveness.
Naomi Watts and Edward Norton are very good, no question of that, but a film that aspires to transport us into the past in a far distant land for a story of torturous love and redemption needs to fix the basics to take the audience along for the ride.
It has a tension running through it for the first three-quarters of the film, that makes you want to keep watching and find out what happens.It doesn't hurt that it's beautifully filmed and that always-entertaining Edward Norton plays the male lead, Kitty's husband "Walter." Norton is one of the few modern-day American actors who could surprise us with a British accent and make it sound natural, forgetting quickly that he's faking an accent.
He's that subtle.Shanghai is an interesting place, I'm sure, especially during the period of the unrest in the 1920s, which is pictured in this Somerset Maugham story, but this still is a very low-key romance movie in which the wife slowly learns to love and respect her husband and he, meanwhile, learns even more slowly, to forgive her for her sins, which include adultery.
Somerset Maugham (1874 - 1965) and whose title from Percy Bysshe Shelley's verse "Lift Not The Painted Veil Which Those Who Live" is taken from.The Painted Veil is as stunningly beautiful in its vision of 1920's China's political and geographic landscapes as its sensitivity of the marriage vows and the way in which it deals with infidelity, regret and possible forgiveness.This love story has Kitty meeting young, intelligent, introverted and somewhat dull Dr. Walter Fane, whose forte is the study of infectious diseases, and the convenient marriage that she finds herself committed too.
After seeing the variety of roles that the man takes, this role seems to be sort of boring, almost below his talent; yet he makes the role of a biologist come alive in a performance that no one else could deliver.This man is the white version of the incredible Denzel Washington.Listen, Tom Hanks might be good, but Norton is Phenomenal.Before going to see this movie, PLEASE see Fight Club or the 25th Hour, or Primal Fear, or ANYTHING else the man has done.
Ms. Watts delivered another stunning performance in her role and the dialogue and the silence between them, the building tension, etc is crazy to watch.One final note on this movie: the Gold Globe the Soundtrack took home is well deserved.Painted Veil is a sleeper film of 2006.
In The Painted Veil, Kitty (Naomi Watts), a beautiful, vivacious girl from a moderately wealthy family agrees to marry Walter (Edward Norton), a serious doctor.
Naomi Watts is superb, as usual, and Edward Norton delivers a particularly good performance.I guess that it'll be "Iron Man" that gets the box office and the award nominations, but in terms of quality cinema, "The Painted Veil" exists in another stratosphere..
In this movie I can say that there is a big conflict between easy,luxurious,irresponsible and the real life that more than %50 per cent of the world population face it.People understand their real life and love in their troubled times and movie originate this sense.Furthermore,Chinese interesting life and their people behaviours and differences from rich undutiful Britain people.Also there are some different conflicts that movie shows us.Such as;rich and poor,healthy and ill,right and unjust.Beside,long and prepared story Edward Norton does his best I think.And he is good at producing .Althoug it is quite long and some parts are boring musics redress this situation.
Naomi Watts plays Kitty Fane, a beautiful and spoiled young woman who marries her physician husband basically for want of something better to do.Dr. Fane (Edward Norton) works in a British government medical laboratory in Shanghai, and volunteers to travel to the area of the cholera outbreak, although he's a scientist, not a clinician.
Amazing story, superb setting, unbelievably great performances from Edward Norton and Naomi Watts, this film has it all.
But, at the same time, it is hauntingly beautiful because it has the power to remind Kitty, her husband Walter (Edward Norton), and the audience of the moment they met and he, at least, fell in love.
Somerset Maugham (and apparently filmed at least once before with Greta Garbo in the starring role), this film tells the story of a young and impetuous English lady (Naomi Watts) who rashly decides to marry a stuffy bacteriologist (Edward Norton) to escape the displeasure of her family and the danger of turning into a spinster.
Today at the Arclight in Hollywood, I finally was able to take in this magnificent film and be enchanted by the beauty and the elegance of not only the performances of two such brilliant actors, Naomi Watts and Edward Norton, but in the character development and the writing of this story brought so powerfully to the screen.
Naomi Watts as the wife is tremendous in her role and her final journey to the end of the film with her husband and realizing what a wonderful man she married hopefully will bring an Oscar Nom for her.
Her lovesick husband named Walter Fane(a brooding Edward Norton) is a bacteriologist medic.They travel to Shangai where the adulterous spouse turning to the affections of another named Charlie Towsend (Liev Schreiber, married in real life to Naomi Watts).
The film-makers here have altered Maugham's story somewhat but they have not lost track of its essentials  a marriage based on superficial attraction on the part of the husband (Walter) and a desire to get away from her family on the part of the wife (Kitty) matures into a real love-match under adverse conditions.
This is welcome and does not detract from the central story.Naomi Watts is a fine feckless and then fighting Kitty (a tough class  Garbo played her in the 1934 version) and Edward Norton gets Walter, the man of science overtaken by emotion just right, though at times I wondered whether another very uptight character he has played, Derek Vinyard of "American History X" was seeping through.
Edward Norton, Naomi Watts, and Liev Schreiber create an ensemble fitting of a Maugham novel, and their performances are flawless.Flawless as well is the cinematography and photography in this wonderful adaptation of the novel.
The movie tells the troubled relationship of a couple of newly-weds: Kitty Fane, a shallow middle-class girl who marry for practical reasons and without love, and her husband Walter Carwin, a fine epidemiologist going to China to fight an outbreak of cholera, who falls in love with Kitty at first sight.The movie goes beyond the usual romance story or period movie, and has a good insight into the historical events occurring in China in the 1920s, but also into the differences between infatuation and true love, which is the focus of the film.
The music by Alexandre Desplat and the cinematography by Stuart Dryburgh are simply magnificent.Regarding the acting, I initially thought that the leading couple of Naomi Watts (Kitty)-Edward Norton (Walter) weren't suited as the leading couple, but, after watching the movie, I think think they are, although Norton outshines Watts by far despite this being a role out of his comfort zone.
Lovely to Look At. Gorgeous cinematography of China, an excellent cast and performances are the stars of "The Painted Veil," a 2006 version of a Somerset Maugham story.
The film concerns an unhappily married couple, Kitty and Walter Fane (Naomi Watts and Edward Norton).
The leads of Walter and Kitty, played here by Edward Norton and Naomi Watts are perfect in their parts though I had some reservations about Edward's accent prior to seeing the film.
The movie essentially narrates the origins and development of the relationship between Dr. Walter Fane (Edward Norton) and Kitty (Naomi Watts), who becomes his wife, and yet for the most part the Fanes don't seem to possess either blinding love or boiling hatred - mutual disinterest and contempt might be the best way to describe most of their time together.Essentially, Fane takes Kitty to Shanghai where he works as an infectious disease researcher.
I watched this film on DVD last week and can't stop thinking about it - it is truly riveting - powerful performances from Edward Norton (with flawless English accent) and Naomi Watts together with tremendous supporting performances from the rest of the cast.
Long half hour dull patches are injected with 1 minute scored sequences of someone dying of cholera and the disgust on Edward Norton's face, and despite these only being the good bits because, finally, there's something interesting to watch, you do feel that there may be a tiny bit of promise for the rest of the film, but guess whatthe score stops, Norton stops looking disgusted, and we cut to Naomi Watts, sitting in a chair sighing again.The writer seems to have run out of ink only when he had established 2 plot lines, a novelty guard, and the idea that making the characters British makes them deep in itself.Somehow, however, this film drags these 2 plot lines, the guard and the British accents along with it for the whole 2 and a bit hours, to solidify the fact that Naomi Watts isn't as good as everyone says, that just because movies are about redemption and political issues with foreigners, it doesn't make them good, and that The Painted Veil, overall, is a thin, and boring movie..
In this period piece, Edward Norton once again plays the smartest guy in the room, as Walter Fane, a dedicated, cold-hearted clinical researcher who travels to the middle of a cholera epidemic in China in the 1920s, with his young wife Kitty (Naomi Watts) in tow.
"The Painted Veil" is a drama movie in which we watch a British doctor who is going with his wife to China in order to fight a cholera epidemic.
Edward Norton who played as Dr. Walter Fane was for one more time simply outstanding and the same I can say about the interpretation of Naomi Watts who played as his wife.Lastly I believe that "The Painted Veil" is a very nice movie which combines very well drama with romance and shows us what a person has to get through in order to become better.
This wonderful Somerset Maugham novel about a doctor dealing with a cholera epidemic in China in the 20s is stunningly brought to life with power and drama.This movie succeeds both in the intimate and broader stories.
Based upon the novel written by SOMERSET MAUGHAM, Edward Norton and Naomi Watts portray a broken love story set in the 1920s.
I am usually not a fan of romantic drama's but the dark twist and setting of this movie made me throughly enjoy it.The plot: A young doctor (Edward Norton) enters an emotionless marriage with rich, rather spoiled woman(Naomi Watts) and struggles through his relationship, whilst aiding a Chinese village plagued by cholera.
Naomi Watts shines as the lovely yet shallow Kitty Fane and Edward Norton is at his best as the withdraw, heartbroken bacteriologist, Walter Fane.
I like the fact that the film was able to convey the cultural and political aspects of China during 1920s and that the story was still able to lean toward the lead characters, Kitty and Walter.