Film Details:
The Painted Veil (12A)
Drama(2006)
125mins US
Director: John Curran
Starring: Naomi Watts, Edward Norton, Liev Schreiber, Toby Jones

LondonNet Film Review
The Painted Veil

The searing heat and choking humidity of '20s Shanghai provide a suitably steamy and exotic backdrop to John Curran's handsome period romance, adapted by Ron Nyswaner from W. Somerset Maugham's novel...

Falling in love is a perilous business in The Painted Veil: young hearts are crushed by the conventions of the time. There is little room for emotion: women are expected to marry for the sake of appearances and to appease their socially conscious mothers.

Such matters irk society belle Kitty Garstin (Naomi Watts): "The idea that a young woman should marry any Tom, Dick or Harry regardless of whether she loves him is simply prehistoric," she laments, all too aware that her demanding mother (Maggie Steed) expects her to do just that.

During one of London's countless high society gatherings, Kitty meets dull bacteriologist Walter Fane (Edward Norton), who makes his amorous intentions clear. "I've never thought of you in that way," Kitty explains. "I improve greatly upon acquaintance," counters Walter cheerily. "I'm sure you do," replies Kitty, who eventually accepts his proposal, if only to escape her mother.

Trapped in a loveless marriage, Kitty embarks on a passionate affair with vice consul Charles Townsend (Liev Schreiber). When Walter reveals he knows about the affair ("I am afraid you thought me a bigger fool that I really am!"), he retaliates by spiriting Kitty away to the cholera-ravaged village of Mei-tan-fu.

While Walter devotes himself to tending to the sick, Kitty finds her calling as a teacher at a convent run by the caring Mother Superior (Diana Rigg). She also becomes witnesses the political tug of war between Deputy Commissioner Waddington (Toby Jones), who has taken a local girl (Yu Lin) for a lover, and powerful Colonel Yu (Anthony Wong Chau-Sang). As political tensions explode and the epidemic with it, Walter and Kitty face a fight for their lives as well as their marriage.

The Painted Veil unfolds at a leisurely pace, dictated by the inability of the characters to say what they mean until it is almost too late. All too often, they say nothing at all, and a voiceover reveals the maelstrom of emotions beneath the surface: "She weeps for the vivacious girl she once was, for the lonely woman she has become, but most she weeps for the love she will never give."

Norton and Watts deliver terrific performances as the desperately lonely couple, who seem a poor fit from the very first moment they meet. "I'm a bacteriologist," says Walter plainly. "That must be fascinating," replies Kitty, oozing sarcasm. The ebb and flow of the relationship is underscored by elegant dialogue, revealing the tenderness beneath the rage and betrayal. "Do you absolutely despise me?" asks Kitty forlornly. "No, I despise myself... for allowing myself to love you once," replies Walter, baring his soul.

Alexandre Desplat's surging orchestral score perfectly compliments Stuart Dryburgh's ravishing cinematography, all naturalistic and shimmering with Eastern promise.

- Sam Cannon